Futures Past

Having been briefed, the characters are provided horses so they can ride south to the village. They are given the code phrase:

“I am enquirying about the dog”

With the counter-phrase:

“Then you’ll want to speak to my daughter.”

On the way they come across bandits, which stop them and demand a toll. The players can pay with gold or ass-whoopin’, whatever takes their fancy.

The bandits are a band of 5 swordsmen, with horses. They are all big bruisers.

Once the players are past the bandits, they are on a clear path to the village.

The village is quite small, consisting of a drinking house and inn by the riverside, 12 houses, a stable, a small trading shop and store for goods brought in from other villages.

Exploring the village, they will find the mark carved on a rafter in the shop. Upon exchanging the code phrases, they will be escorted into the back of the shop to meet Chun-Li Yang.

Chun-Li Yang explains to them that she is an Imperial agent and asks why they have been sent. If the characters lie to her, she will tell and become suspicious of their motives – this will effect encounters with her later on. If she is suspicious she will ask for further proof of their mission from Emperor Ming and if still not satisfied, she will challenge one of the characters to a duel as Emperor Ming would not have sent someone to her who was not equal or above her level of ability.

Once satisfied, she will direct them to the boat and offer to show them the way down the tributaries to the main Yangtze river. If they refuse, she bids them good luck on their mission after giving them some directions, otherwise she jumps on board and sets sail immediately.

Typically, they will come across some rapids, which they will have bonuses for surviving if they accepted Chun-Li Yang’s help.

Once they are on the main river, Chun-Li Yang will give them some information on which tributaries to go down and where they can liaise with more scouts and spies for news of the sorcerors whereabouts (if she knows about the sorcerors from the characters, otherwise she will tell them that if they need help, they can find it here, there, etc).

As they journey down the river, they have the chance to pick up information about the sorcerers such as better descriptions of what they look like and what they have with them. Eventually, they will end up at a waterfall with high, rock walls either side that they can’t avoid. They fall over the edge… fade to black.