Qin - Tianxia

8th session of our campaign, played on August 4, 2007, this second part of "The Renegade Prince" anoints the PCs and brings the campaign's prologue to a fine close. Finally ready to become legends, our Wuxia head back to town to settle a few scores and save the day.

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Still suffering from her last fight, Snowflake invites herself into the war medics' tent, soon imitated by Tian Zaisheng, who fears that another infiltration of Quzhi might prove fatal. Pitiful, patched up in haste, our heroes join General Tchen Qi, who commands the Qin loyalist army. He asks them for their plan, assuming he was dealing with a group of experienced saboteurs. The heavy silence that settles reveals to the assembly that the *Wuxia *simply have no plan. The general idea would be to get inside the city, put the prisoners somewhere safe, and light a fire to warn the loyalist army to engage hostilities. The question is how to get inside Quzhi...

Tchen Qi also indicates that a spy in Cheng Jiao's pay is said to be inside the camp: a servant close to Lu Buwei, presumably there to gather information. However, nobody knows how he communicates with his superiors. Liu Mei Shan takes charge of watching him, while Zaisheng and Wulin take the time to recover from their misadventures. Mei Shan discovers nothing to suggest the servant is duplicitous: he performs his duty diligently, standing at the prime minister's disposal the great majority of the time. When Lu Buwei releases him from his service, the man wanders around the camp, asks a few questions about the next day's operations, then returns to the servants' tent. A few hours later, having recovered, Tian Zaisheng tries to spot a flaw in the organization of the city of Quzhi. The gap between guard rotations might conceivably let them slip through, but they would then have to scale the gates before the new guard arrives; a feat beyond the Mohist's reach. Meanwhile, Wulin prepares infiltration gear - ropes, grappling hooks, inconspicuous clothes. The young woman has learned her lesson well: better safe than sorry.

When night falls, Tian Zaisheng witnesses a promising event at the southern gates of the city of Quzhi: the guards are quarreling while the city gate stands open. That is all our heroes need to jump at the chance. Liu Mei Shan and Zhang Wu-Lin don Qin armor and try their best to adopt a martial bearing: led by Tian Zaisheng - still equipped with his Qin officer's armor - the small group approaches Quzhi. Once inside the city as if nothing were amiss, Tian Zaisheng orders the soldiers to close the gates in an authoritative tone. While Liu Mei Shan goes unnoticed, the petite Snowflake has a little more trouble. Luckily, her performance is convincing enough that the city guards content themselves with taking her for an effeminate young recruit. The heroes reach the poor quarter, where they rejoin the Hospitality of the Steppes. At the quarter's entrance, they realize that Magistrate Fen Shu-Di has been executed: his charred head is impaled on a spike, fitted with a bamboo plaque explaining the crimes that led to his execution. No doubt the other parts of his body are displayed at the other gates of the city's various quarters.

On the way, the group discusses the plan: Zaisheng suggests setting fire to two stables, which would sow enough confusion to make things easier for the loyalist army. Arriving at the inn, the Wuxia find Guo Ts'ai-Ja, wounded from his escape, who tells them that an assassin is going after General Tchen Qi. From his description, it would be the famous servant suspected of spying. He also reminds the group that at the slightest sign of an attack, Prince Cheng Jiao will personally and immediately execute Sargaï. It would therefore be suicidal to light a fire before the prisoner is safe. In short, good coordination is needed between Sargaï's escape and the fires; the apprentice spies could use one more person for this, which is why they think of the inn's matron. She is indeed ready to help them, all the more so to rescue a fellow countryman. Zaisheng asks her to light the fires for them the next day at noon, while they take care of saving Sargaï.

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The plan is ready. After a restless night at the inn, the group hurries toward the administrative quarter, taking advantage of the crowd streaming off to attend the execution. Our brave adventurers enter the palace, pass themselves off as the group supposed to escort the prisoner outside, and leave the premises neither seen nor known with Sargaï, freed from his cell. Are the Qin guards really that easy to fool? Isn't the stressful situation reason enough for Cheng Jiao to have reinforced security? Hard to say, but the haste of the execution may partly explain this appalling organization. Be that as it may, our *Wuxia *get away elegantly. They even treat themselves to the luxury of entering a barracks, where Tian Zaisheng orders the two soldiers present to chase after an imaginary intruder, clearing the way for Wulin and Mei Shan, who steal a Qin uniform for Sargaï. It takes about ten minutes for the deception to be discovered and panic to spread among the soldiers, but it is nothing compared to the dread triggered by the fire in the poor quarter's stables, followed by the loyalist army setting out.

Opportunists at heart, the heroes take advantage of the surrounding chaos to flee and rejoin the Hospitality of the Steppes, from where they plan their escape from the city. A few hours pass, the group stays cloistered in the building, paralyzed at the thought of the fighting outside. While the ladies take care of shaving Sargaï and making a new man of him, Zaisheng allows himself a foray to gauge the state of the battle. At a quick glance, he notes that General Fan Yuqi is holding off his opponent Tchen Qi without difficulty. The siege looks set to get bogged down. On the way back, the Mohist is stopped by a superior officer, who orders him to state his unit's name before rejoining it without delay. Zaisheng tries to bluff by naming a unit at random, but to his great despair, his interlocutor knows the officer in charge. Growing more suspicious, he orders Zaisheng to accompany him to his so-called brothers-in-arms. The hero complies, but takes to his heels at the first opportunity, shaking off the punctilious officer in the middle of the other soldiers.

Back at the inn, a chastened Zaisheng proposes that the group wait before attempting anything, despite the protests of Sargaï, who wants to go take the prince's head personally, rather than entrusting his death to loyalists whose victory seems far from guaranteed. The group therefore prepares to spend the night at the inn, when a band of drunken soldiers bursts into the place. They are no doubt celebrating the victory of some defensive operation or other over the enemy army. First, they order drinks. Their shrill voices carry all the way to the bedrooms. And then, a few dozen minutes later, the inn's guests hear the matron screaming and struggling. Everything suggests the soldiers are assaulting her modesty. Red with anger, Sargaï has no intention of letting this happen and prepares to go down, weapon in hand. To stop him, Wulin and Zaisheng pin him to the floor, but the noise attracts the guards' attention. In a hurry, the heroes improvise a farcical scene. They lay Sargaï on a bed, Liu Mei Shan lets down her hair and slips off her chang pao before stretching out on top of the Xiongnu, Wulin hides under the bed and Zaisheng behind the door. The first guard bursts in, pushing the door right into the Mohist's face. Stunned but curious, the guard demands an explanation while he inspects the room. Liu Mei Shan claims she was merely giving her client some pleasure. The excuse becomes a little harder to believe when the soldier discovers master Tian. But Mei Shan, provocative as ever, tells him he was there to wait for his turn. Visibly interested in the whole affair, the guard, between fat snickers, makes it quite clear to Mei Shan that he fully intends to enjoy her services as a priority. And when the beauty asks for 50 daos for her services, the soldier laughs and calls his comrades over to make it clear to him that for them, the service is free. Eager not to be disturbed, the boors have Zaisheng and Sargaï removed from the room. The two take the opportunity to return to their own room, the one next door, arm themselves and wait for the right moment to intervene - despite the Xiongnu prince's still-simmering rage. For her part, Mei Shan manages to convince the guard that they need a little privacy; the other soldiers leave the room and roughhouse in the corridor while waiting their turn. The soldier undresses, approaches his victim, but gets his throat cut with a single stroke of a hairpin before he can get too close. Mei Shan cleans her weapon, while Wulin - out of her hiding place - grabs the soldier's corpse, goes out the window and dumps it a few alleys away. The group then leaves the inn through their bedroom windows, not without taking the matron along to save her from an unenviable death. Invigorated by this little misadventure, the heroes decide to take action without further delay. They ask the matron to keep their belongings safe and hurry off to meet their fate. Approaching the walls of the administrative quarter, they hook their grappling iron and scale the wall, spotting below, near the gates of the poor quarter, a surreal sight: the Xiongnu matron, who had seemed harmless, is firmly coordinating a group of indignant villagers. The latter seem to be preparing an attack on the city's south gate. A well-timed diversion.

The heroes finish their climb. On the rampart, a guard spots them, but he is quite unable to do anything before Snowflake cuts his life short. It is too late to turn back: the group seizes the momentum, continues on its way toward the palace and crushes the armed resistance that stands before it. The Wuxia finally burst into the prince's chamber. Cheng Jiao is unfortunately not alone: General Fan Yuqi and his "praetorian guard" have not left him since the previous day's incident, and all seem quite determined to fight to their last breath.

The fight begins. Right off the bat, Zaisheng orders his opponents to surrender, but the elite guards stand unshaken. They each engage in a personal joust against our heroes: Zaisheng is wounded, but his Qin officer's armor protects him effectively, which is not the case for Wulin, who suddenly remembers the unpleasant sensation a blade leaves on flesh. Sizing up the situation, Fan Yuqi attacks the one who represents the greatest direct threat; he leaps behind Zaisheng and lands a blow that hits the mark. In response, Zaisheng clumsily harvests the wind, stumbles, falls to the ground, and plants his dao into a neighboring wall. Mei Shan, chased by her opponent, immediately seizes the chance to run over there and throw it back to him. Meanwhile, Snowflake manages to block her enemy's blade with her bare hands, and hurls him into Mei Shan's. Guo Ts'ai-Ja cuts down the guard who was holding him off and comes to the aid of master Tian who, still on the ground, was suffering the repeated assaults of two enemies little concerned with courtesy. Ts'ai-Ja's blade shines with a thousand lights as it slides from his right hand to his left, breaking General Fan's defense, who receives a serious gash. The riposte is not long in coming, and Guo Ts'ai-Ja, still wounded, gradually buckles under Fan Yuqi's blows. Unable to come to his aid, Zaisheng at least adopts a defensive posture effective enough to parry the attacks of the guard who had made him his target. The skirmish turns in the heroes' favor when Sargaï rids himself of his opponent, giving his own side the advantage of numbers. Wulin instantly breaks the spine of the guard she had thrown into the air, while Sargaï gives free rein to his rage and impales the brute who was bearing down on Mei Shan. Faced with the rout, the last guard standing tries to finish off Ts'ai-Ja, but his blade is blocked in extremis by the Mohist's, who uses the motion to slay his enemy with a prodigious sword stroke. Fan Yuqi thus finds himself alone, but has no intention of giving up the fight. Cheng Jiao, who had until then watched the confrontation from the sidelines, courageously joins the general. Sargaï lunges straight at him, only to be stopped dead by the general, who leaps to defend his prince. But the latter orders his protector to fall back and let him face his assassins alone. Not without hesitation, Fan Yuqi uses his extraordinary speed to leave the room. Alone, the prince does not survive for long. He meets a merciful death from a palm strike delivered by Snowflake. His revenge at last accomplished, Sargaï cuts off his head without further ado.

When the Wuxia leave the administrative quarter, they note the loyalist army's victory. Tchen Qi's forces took advantage of the unrest inside Quzhi to launch a decisive assault. Deprived of their general, the renegade soldiers could not hold out for long. An hour later, the whole city surrenders. Acclaimed as heroes by the loyalists, Zaisheng, Mei Shan, Wu-Lin, Ts'ai-Ja and Sargaï leave the palace. Without delay, doctors are called to treat them. A man arrives, sets his medical kit down and prepares to bandage Tian Zaisheng when, at the critical moment, Liu Mei Shan spots a dagger in the sleeve of his chang pao, which he is about to plunge into the Mohist's chest. Without delay, the merchantess draws her weapon to prevent the tragic incident, but the Qin guards nearby have not grasped the situation and promptly seize her. Fortunately for Zaisheng, Mei Shan was not the only one to have seen through the deception: a few seconds later, Sargaï in turn understands the situation and, without further ado, cuts off the assassin's head with a stroke of his sharpened sword. When the Qin soldiers inspect the corpse, they find concealed weapons proving that the famous doctor was indeed ill-intentioned, thereby clearing Mei Shan.

After real doctors have dressed the wounds of Wu-Lin, Ts'ai-Ja and Zaisheng, Prime Minister Lu Buwei and General Tchen Qi reach the palace, where they warmly congratulate the heroes of the day. Lu Buwei does them the honor of putting the city's fate in their hands, when it comes to appeasing the Xiongnu's resentment: he personally asks each of the heroes what should be done about the prisoners, the city and its citizens. Liu Mei Shan is the first to be questioned. She answers that clemency must be shown toward the people and the soldiers, some of whom were not necessarily disloyal. Wulin agrees, adding that the officers may be put to death because of their part in this rebellion. Tian Zaisheng, a convinced Mohist, asks that the people be pardoned, but that the soldiers, responsible for their actions, be punished as they deserve. Ts'ai-Ja simply answers that his wounds hurt and that he doesn't really feel like thinking about it right now. When the prime minister puts the question to Sargaï, stressing that he will be ready to do what is necessary to prove the Qin's good faith toward the Desert Falcons tribe, the fiery Xiongnu demands that the city be razed and its soldiers and inhabitants put to death. Lu Buwei turns pale. Mei Shan and Zaisheng reason with Sargaï and obtain from him that only the soldiers and officials be executed. It nevertheless goes without saying that the Desert Falcons heir's bloodthirstiness casts a chill over his relations with the Wuxia.

At that moment, the heroes return to the camp to be treated. There they discover that their reputation needs no making among the Qin soldiers: already, the name of the "Butchers of Quzhi" is on everyone's lips. Lu Buwei even invites them to join him in his palace in Xianyang whenever they wish - for he seems convinced that they will eventually want to. He does warn them that, after their feats for the Qin army, they risk being unwelcome in Zhao. That very day, the prime minister returns to Xianyang, leaving the heroes at General Tchen Qi's camp. They will rest there for a few days before setting off again toward the desert, to bring proof of Cheng Jiao's death to Sargaï's father, the Chanyu of the Desert Falcons.

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Our heroes' future thus seems to be taking shape in the kingdom of Qin. No sooner will Xoa and Mok Shi Tung's wedding be concluded than they will have to leave Zhao for fear of reprisals. What does Lu Buwei expect of the Butchers of Quzhi? That is what we shall see in the next session of Qin...

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