TTJP Season1 Episode 16 The Next Step

 

Casting: Tiger Team!

• Jian Wu (Two) (Christian) 11M; Smith and guy with huge sword
• Jiao Ting (Eight) (Chris D) 11M; Reckless grappler
• Liang Jing Min (Five) (Randy) 11M; Noble, on the outs with family
• Nongmin Chushi (Seven) (Rory) 11M; He talks to spirits, inquisitive and charming more than creepy, despite possibly being insane. Perhaps a wee bit too friendly to strangers.
• Shang Yi (One) (Calvin) 11M; Natural leader and archer.
• Zhiyu Zhige (Nine) (Laurie) 11F; Sorcerer specializing in healing.
• He Bohi (Eleven) 11M; Twin, grew up near the docks.
• He Donghai (Twelve) 11M;, Twin, powerful grappler
• Ko Lanfen (Four) 11F; Solid Order devotee.
• Laoshu (Three aka Mouse) 12F; Quiet and deadly with a knife.
• Meiyou Ren (Six) 11M; Also good with a blade, possibly any blade.
• Rang Baozhai (Ten) 14F; Our bookworm and nerd.

Blood for Teacher!

So our intrepid and scrappy band of bald headed 11 year olds heads back to the arena for some sparring.  Everyone will participate in a unarmed duel, the sorcerer in a magic duel and the shaman in a shaman duel and the armed combat one is optional though advised.

At stake is not just our creches reputation but the quality of teachers who will pick among us. Oh and were fighting team Umber Snake, Lanfen's old team whom we traded Qing for.

First up are the two magical duels....

• Chushi sparred a shaman who tried to turn into an animal but Chushi pinched his nose breaking his concentration. Then they traded TK punches he went for Chushi's groin, Chushi started off with the face. Chushi fell down but remained conscious at 0 HP then knocked the other guy out with an extra effort judo throw.
• Zhige dodged a lightning bolt and cast an illusion of pits of hell and he screamed in terror and yielded.

First round goes to us 2 -0!

As both of us had the Green Seer for a teacher little was at stake here but it could reflect on our teacher so best we won.  Also Chushi showed his toughness by fighting through his wounds and Zhige won on style points.

Next up was the armed combat round...

• Jian Wu took his guy out with 12 HP using a sparring stick, guy rolled 18 on his HT roll to stay conscious.
• Chushi went up to fight a guy (DX 18!) with cestus who took him out with two hits to the face in one round.
• Jing Min went up against a guy with bladed hands who was also fast, did retreating dodge to avoid then Giant Step to get some distance and crushed the guys windpipe.
• Yi shot three arrows into a bullseye, easily besting his opponent.

Score was 2 - 1, with Chushi losing.

Finally we have the Unarmed Combat!

• Ting slammed into his foe but he managed to stay on his feet and failed a return punch. Ting followed up with a clinch and knee strike to the groin, guy breaks free and steps back retreating dodge and Ting hit him with another slam then he backed up for a kick. Ting followed up with another clinch and knee strike Observers were overheard talking about how unorthodox his style was, but also remarking on its effectiveness.
• Yi traded blows with his foe, both dodging well. Then he did a Judo Parry followed by a Judo Throw which stunned him. Did enough damage to break the arm and knock him out.
• Chushi opponent leads with a flying jump kick which Chushi handles with a Judo parry followed by a throw. Guy was stunned and Chushi kicked him while he was down, the team saw him think about stepping back after the third round of kicking him to let him recover and shouted NO! so he kicked gum again while he was trying to get up and he he eventually fell unconscious.
• Jing Min did a judo throw and kicked his guy while he was down, breaking both arms.
• Jian Wu rushed his guy for a Wrestling grapple all out attack and walked his foe out of the ring.
• Zhige fought Qing who rushed for all out attack grapple but she dodged then did all out attack double grabbing his head and shoving it into her knee.  She stunned and knocked him down the did an Arm Lock and paralyzed and arm then the next arm, followed by the leg. Judges had to call it as he refused to yield.

Score 6 - 0

All the NPC's won their fights as a Quick Contest of skills so no details on those.

Overall we did well, several of our NPC's out preformed us but everyone except Chushi won all their bouts. Zhige was very popular as she healed everyone and the medics standing by had nothing to do.

We were waiting for the end to see who would get offers and discussing how well we thought we did when we were summoned away.

 Some Bad News, and Some err Lets Call it Good

We were ushered into Headmaster Jong Jong Shi's office and some strange guy was standing next to him, looking very unhappy. We were informed our teacher had died falling down the stares between fights. Yi or was it Jing Min? was the only one of us who looked unsurprised and not flat out incredulous (ie he actually had Acting skill and the brains to use it) while some us restrained ourselves or were in too much shock. Most of the group however exclaimed in disbelief and Master Shi said there would be an investigation. Zhige pointedly asked them if they had killed him (and people keep wondering why Chushi is the one still alive?) and threw the bones to confirm. In the meantime we were all to report to Master Whisper (Orders Inquisitor) for questioning and pack our stuff as we were being reassigned to Master Pai Mei (The unhappy old guy there) for instruction as we had overall showed much promise. Plus other creche teachers were busy after all.  Individual instructors would be in touch with us later and we were dismissed.

Chushi quickly inquired if since Master Pai Mei lived in a private mountain retreat if he and Zhige would still be able to be taught by the Green Seer. We were informed it would be so.

Our Masters are Indeed, Idiots

We quickly left for our rooms and started discussion.  No one believed Master Wo Er just fell and Chushi decided to go see if he could talk with his spirit. Everyone else came along to pay respects and provide cover. Master Wo Er was easily contacted and informed us that he didnt see who tripped him but that there was a mole in the Order and we had to make sure the Ebon Book of 1000 Nightmares did not fall into his hands. (You know where this is going...)

We questioned him as much as we could and were informed it was secured in the library where only two people had access to it. Also we told him we won the testing and he said he saw most of it and was proud of us, at least most of us. Shade from beyond the grave! He also told us he was sorry when told we had been reassigned to Pai Mei as he is particularly harsh and impatient with students, especially girls.

We headed back to our rooms to discuss options. Rang said she knew where the book was and we opted to go look for it.  Mouse escorted her and Chushi offered to follow along. Getting a dirty look from her he mentioned he would go as a spirit so they agreed.  Mouse was prepared to break in but Rang had a key since she worked there.  Chushi propped himself into a corner and went into a trance to project his spirit. Rang quickly went to the main desk and pulled some keys from underneath the desk that gave access to where the book was locked up. They went and she quickly recognized the book was not there as she had just been cleaning the room the week before.

Hello, you call this secure?

Chushi spotted a dark aura and trail leading from the room and went to investigate.  Unable to speak so the others could hear him. He followed the trail to the dungeons where Qing was talking with the captured bandit leader and he had the book under his arm and was fumbling with some lockpicks.

Suddenly a demon attacked and tried to possess him! He resisted (rolled a 5) and quickly fled, hearing the demon warning the others they had been discovered. He found his body and woke up to Mouse and Rang waiting on him. Warned them to head to the dungeons yelling and ringing every alarm we could along the way!

Meanwhile as the demon attacked Chushi the bones given to Zhige by the Moon Spirit  jumped out of her pouch and started circling her head.  One was trying to lead her into a specific direction. So they headed to the dungeons.

Apparently the stones were a better guide than Chushi's memory as a spirit and the main group arrived first. They found an unconscious and badly wounded guard that Zhige healed who told them what was going on and to get help. The bandit was free by this time and had the book. Yi shot an arrow at him but he plucked it out of the air and was creating a gate. The guard handed Zhige a stone and she passed it along to another to throw it, not trusting her aim. It shattered and the bandit vanished into the gate as it closed, except for the arm he had defended himself with. Qing was quickly beat up and paralyzed before the rest of the guards came along and Chushi and infiltration squad.

Master Shi exclaimed in an exasperated fashion how he had just left us and how could we get into so much trouble so quickly. Master Whisper had us all interrogated separately.  Were alive so our stories were accepted, probably helped having the bandits arm and the healed guard handy.

We were released and sent back to our rooms to head out in the morning. Chushi and Zhige were not having it and told the others they were off to talk with the Green Seer, they decided to tag along in case of more trouble.  She was waiting for us at the clearing, though expressed surprise Chushi was still alive and escorted us to her house for a snack and we discussed things. She gave Zhige and Chushi a green gate crystal and we were told she would see to it that Pai Mei was fair to the girls and allowed our training to continue.  Also our training was to be sped up and we needed to be ready for a conjunction when the book would be used.

Aftermath

Regarding the fight, we all had saved Impulse Points and several of us used them to reroll failures during the duels,  So things not quite as risky as it sounded or surprising we won. Chushi could have used two to avoid taking those two hits in his armed combat round, but it was obvious he was going to lose so saved his remaining three points for a closer contest.

Next time will be another three years later and we all have Trained by a Master and impressive combat skills.  Chushi added Universal to Medium so he can now talk to the tree and understand what its saying! Christopher cried.  Also increased his TK strength and can now project his spirit for an hour at a time, only taking a minute of meditation.

Most of us studied up on some Demon Lore, Green Seer offered to teach Zhige and Chushi and Chushi will teach the others with Zhiges help. Chushi has Teaching -14 and Hidden Lore (Demons) -14 by the end of the time skip. Rang likely already has some skill in it as well and probably can still access the library.

Chushi impressed some teachers after all (yay!) and learned Quarterstaff fighting from Hwa Ga Wen, the Orders best staff fighter.  Not sure how that happened as Chushi didn't get to fight with his staff, being knocked out before he could move. Maybe it was his undeniable charm, his toughness in the first round, or perhaps the Green Seer put in a word for him.  Seems everyone wants him to be good with a staff, probably a "shamans should use staves, like priests" kind of thing.

He also learned Pai Mei's Eagle Fist Chin Na style, improved his Cooking to -17, and learned to ride a horse.

TTJP Season 2 Episode 15

 GM Link

Casting: Tiger Team!

• Jian Wu (Two) (Christian) 11M; Smith and guy with huge sword
• Jiao Ting (Eight) (Chris D) 11M; Reckless grappler
• Liang Jing Min (Five) (Randy) 11M; Noble, on the outs with family
• Nongmin Chushi (Seven) (Rory) 11M; He talks to spirits, inquisitive and charming more than creepy, despite possibly being insane. Perhaps a wee bit too friendly to strangers.
• Shang Yi (One) (Calvin) 11M; Natural leader and archer.
• Zhiyu Zhige (Nine) (Laurie) 11F; Sorcerer specializing in healing.
• He Bohi (Eleven) 11M; Twin, grew up near the docks.
• He Donghai (Twelve) 11M;, Twin, powerful grappler
• Ko Lanfen (Four) 11F; Solid Order devotee.
• Laoshu (Three aka Mouse) 12F; Quiet and deadly with a knife.
• Meiyou Ren (Six) 11M; Also good with a blade, possibly any blade.
• Rang Baozhai (Ten) 14F; Our bookworm and nerd.

Bandits Part Deux!

With the village saved we interrogate the bandit leader (who was apparently just knocked out) and he is unimpressed with our intimidation efforts. Chusui tells him he will bind his soul but the bandit doesn't believe he knows how. And well he doesn't so he says hesoff to look for ingrediants to maintain the bluff while actually checking for tracks.  Turns out they made no effort to hide the trail and Chushi easily finds it and tells the others. We leave several behind to guard the village (2 players werent feeling well) and Ren was really hurt.  Villagers do not have the tithe so we have to get it from the bandits, plus most of us wanted to finish them off anyhow.

Happy Trails!

We follow the trail to the a point where we cant take the wagon any further and leave it to keep going. Bandit leader is tied up in the wagon (not sure why really but he might be useful)and Chusi leads us onward.  We pretty much stumble across the camp with us spotting it and they spotting us at the same time.  There hold up in a cave with a wide ledge.

We split the group, half going toward the cave, with Jian, Liang, and Donghai taking the farthest ledge since they have two bowman over there, plus some guards.

Mouse gets up first, followed by Bohi, and Ting, with Chusi being the slowest opted to stay behind.

Bohi gets one good but an archer cripples his leg and he isnt much use after that, Mouse kills several, Ting dispatches 3, including shoving two off the cliff. Chusi uses his spirit powers to turn the quivers upside down and disarming the archers (Telekinesis 6 so its too weak to grapple adults). Jian gets mauled but survives his death and consciousness checks and dispatches 3, while Liang and Donghai kill the ones that were attacking Jian. One was thrown off the ledge and Chushi tried to kill him but after finishing the fight on the ledge Liang made a flying leap off it to land on him with his spear. Ting was just a second to late to do his own flying leap from the other side.

So one seriously wounded on our side and a few with significant injuries vs. another 12 bandits taken out. Totaling 44 bandits, we cut off some ears for bounty and haul the wounded and goods back to the wagon.

The Spoils of War

We found some coin, the tithe, and misc gear and materials in the cave plus the bandits armor was quality leather.  We split the coin up into three parts, 1 to the village, 1 split among us, and 1 to the Order.  We figured they had been raiding several villages in the area so the village probably got more than was lost but we couldn't chase down the other villages.  After all we were running late!

We were chewed out for being two days late when we got back and the order took the weapons and armor but we got to keep our share of the coin plus will get some bounty money for the bandits.

Next week is sparring, and how well we do will influence if we get offered any special training our teachers take an interest in us.  If not we keep with the regular training we have been undergoing.

TTJP Season 1 Episode 14

 GM Link

Casting: Tiger Team!

• Jian Wu (Two) (Christian) 11M; Smith and guy with huge sword
• Jiao Ting (Eight) (Chris D) 11M; Reckless grappler
• Liang Jing Min (Five) (Randy) 11M; Noble, on the outs with family
• Nongmin Chushi (Seven) (Rory) 11M; He talks to spirits, inquisitive and charming more than creepy, despite possibly being insane. Perhaps a wee bit too friendly to strangers.
• Shang Yi (One) (Calvin) 11M; Natural leader and archer.
• Zhiyu Zhige (Nine) (Laurie) 11F; Sorcerer specializing in healing.
• He Bohi (Eleven) 11M; Twin, grew up near the docks.
• He Donghai (Twelve) 11M;, Twin, powerful grappler
• Ko Lanfen (Four) 11F; Solid Order devotee.
• Laoshu (Three aka Mouse) 12F; Quiet and deadly with a knife.
• Meiyou Ren (Six) 11M; Also good with a blade, possibly any blade.
• Rang Baozhai (Ten) 14F; Our bookworm and nerd.

Update

So everyone has spent their saved experience and some bonus points from 3 years of training and are quite a bit better than we last saw them.  Note a few changes in the casting list for hints.

Jian Wu got stronger and added some Talents, perks and other things letting him do massive cutting damage to the neck.

Jiao Ting added more DR, ST, and some special traits letting him do more on his Slams (still a favored tactic) plus increased Judo and Karate and is good at Knee strikes.

He Donghai has become a vey good grappler.

Mouse got even deadlier with her knife, and does does Rapid Strikes to the vitals.

Meiyou Ren learned a Technique called Greater Whirlwind and used it to great effect.

Chushi added Awareness to Channeling, purchased Medium, TK 6, and Spirit Form. Also modestly increased his combat skills to 11, though still ST 8.

I didn't really get to observe everyone else's upgrades.

A Trip to Town

Our group is sent to bring back provisions from a nearby town, part of its tithe.  Its a week there and back and fortunately Chushi spent points learning Teamster so is no longer working from default.  Also now has Animal Handling (Equines) to help take care of the horses. And Zhige has Veterinary in case things get really bad for them, not to mention her sorcery.

Many in the group have obtained weapons from the groups blacksmith Jian Wu and we get some provisions and gear for the trip from stocks.

The first night out, were still in the valley but post guards as were in the woods and to get in the habit. Chushi hears something during his watch and signals Zhige who is also awake (all the PC's and several NPC's have Reduced Sleep so we dont need a full 8 hours rest) and goes to check it out. Recognizing its the sound of a Kharakara staff which has metal rings to scare away small animals (carried by some Buddhist priests) he goes to the road and observes an old woman. He stands out so as not to startle her and greets her and she in turn greets him by name and directs him to take her to the camp, naturally he does just that.

OOC There is some discussion how Chushu should not be allowed to stand watch anymore...

She enters camp where some have woken up and introduces herself as the Spirit of the Moon. Chushu nods, thinking of course she is and that explains everything. Some are a bit skeptical but most wise enough not to be too obvious about it and Chushu courteously offers her something to eat.

She sits down and explains the group is headed into trouble as the village is beset by bandits and were greatly outnumbered.  She offers to throw the bones for us, getting mildly annoyed with Zhige who can read them and silences her to keep from telling everyone what they say.

Note: Need to ask her to teach me how to read them too, as he only knows Fortune-Telling (Dreams).

She does get the bag of bones tossed to her as a gift though so the Spirit Lady is not very annoyed after all.  Also were all given a silver coin to toss in the water sometime after we survive and we can call on her.

Thats cool!

The Fight!

We do a bit of scouting and opt for most of the group going in the center across the main bridge with two small groups of flankers. There are 31bandits, a handful with bows.  Most clustered in the south around the village square, a few to the north.

Mouse, Zhige, and Ren head towards the north, Jian and two others flank from the south around some buildings and the rest head straight in. We get initivive and surprise them with some opening attacks as we drive across the bridge.

Its a long and brutal fight, 12 vs. 31  so I wont cover it all.

Ren accounted for the most deaths, though he also took the most hits. At one point he was fully surrounded by 6 bandits and killed 5 of them in an impressive Greater Whirlwind attack. I think he killed that remainder and 2 more before things were over.

Jian got the next most kills, mostly with a form of aggressive parry and his huge sword.

Mouse probably came in a close third, she was hung up on one guy who kept passing his death checks.

Everyone else got at least 1 kill except for Rang who stayed out of the fight and held the wagon.

Everyone (most of us are 11) did impressive against bandits in leather armor, showing why the Order earns its tithe.

We ended right after the fight as the game lasted longer than normal, about 5 and a half hours, much of that the fight.

Aftermath

Next time Chushi should probably threaten the dead bandit leader with an ignominious burial to see where their camp is and get the villagers back some of their stuff plus make sure there are no stragglers.

TTJP Season 1 Session 13

 Final episode before the break!

GM's Recap

Casting: Tiger Team!

• Jian Wu (Two) (Christian) 8M, strong guy
• Jiao Ting (Eight) (Chris D) 8M
• Liang Jing Min (Five) (Randy) 8M, Noble, on the outs with family
• Nongmin Chushi (Seven) (Rory) 8M, says he talks to spirits, inquisitive and charming more than creepy despite possibly being insane.
• Shang Yi (One) (Calvin) 8M, natural leader and archer.
• Zhiyu Zhige (Nine) (Laurie) 8F, sorcerer specializing in healing.
• He Bohi (Eleven) 8M, Twin, grew up near the docks.
• He Donghai (Twelve) 8M, grew up near the docks.
• He Qing (Four) 9M, bully of the group.
• Laoshu (Three aka Mouse) 9F, quiet and good with a knife.
• Meiyou Ren (Six) M Also good with a knife
• Rang Baozhai (Ten) 11F, our bookworm and nerd.

The Green Seer

Our team, minus the twins and Qing who remained at camp followed the elderly lady to her treehouse. Its a big tree and a big house. We made idle conversation while she finished making donner, surprisingly having more than enough for all of us. She explained there were blood speakers who sneak into the valley from time to time stealing the chi from the plants and such here. Most of the group did not quite get it, though Chushi and Zhige definitely did. After the nice venison stew she gave us some fantastic dumplings and candied fruit.  Not sure why some others were nervous, no one who is that good a cook can be bad right? Chushi is quite sure its a rule that good cooking is one of the best signs of good hospitality.

Anyhow, she told us a few things but it was mostly chit chat and good eating. Chushi decided to see if the tree would talk to him and it did, sorta. He invited it in (Channeling) but as usual he was not able to hear what it was saying. His friends tried, but were unhelpful as they described he was talking in weird sounds. The elderly lady, who had identified herself as the Green Seer smacked him to snap him out of it.  As dinner ended she offered to teach Zhige and Chushi if they wanted to come back, both eagerly accepted and the group headed back to camp.

Apparently Qing had hit He Bohi and given him a back eye. We shared food with the group and in the middle of the night Qing was mysteriously beaten with sticks in his bedroll.

Next day we headed back, horses a little less cooperative this time so it took longer. They also did not seem interested in our offerings of food. When we arrived we were told we were light and proudly replied we had trouble with the horses but brought all the wood and plenty of smoked meat. Because we killed a bear!  and Ghosts!!!

We got a mildly satisfied grunt in return and told to put it all away.

It was very late by the time we were done but we got to sleep in a bit, it was almost dawn when we were woken up for the days task.  Running. Up stairs, downstairs, repeat. A lot.

Bohi fell down the stars and hurt himself pretty badly, Zhige healed him, mostly and we continued. Mouse told her she had seen Qing trip him. On lunch break the group discussed options for dealing with Qing, though Ting wanted nothing to do with it.  Jing Min suggested breaking his arm but in the end we did nothing.

The next day was a lot more running, this time just in circles though and a few were exhausted but no injuries this time. That afternoon we were in a sparring match with another group, the Monkeys. We lost but not too badly, Chushi did not do well at all.

Our Trainer declared we had spirit at least, and as we were deemed healthy enough we could begin our unarmed combat training.

Aftermath

No game next week, one of the players is moving so we skip a week. Also this is a time skip as we will have three years training before the next session.

Fun game, we were a bit rowdy, almost felt like an in person game!

TTJP Season 1 Session 12 Beware of Ghosts!

GM Link Session 12 Part 2

Casting: Tiger Team!

• Jian Wu (Two) (Christian) 8M, strong guy
• Jiao Ting (Eight) (Chris D) 8M
• Liang Jing Min (Five) (Randy) 8M, Noble, on the outs with family
• Nongmin Chushi (Seven) (Rory) 8M, says he talks to spirits, inquisitive and charming more than creepy despite possibly being insane.
• Shang Yi (One) (Calvin) 8M, natural leader and archer.
• Zhiyu Zhige (Nine) (Laurie) 8F, sorcerer specializing in healing.
• He Bohi (Eleven) 8M, Twin, grew up near the docks.
• He Donghai (Twelve) 8M, grew up near the docks.
• He Qing (Four) 9M, bully of the group.
• Laoshu (Three aka Mouse) 9F, quiet and good with a knife.
• Meiyou Ren (Six) M Also good with a knife
• Rang Baozhai (Ten) 11F, our bookworm and nerd.

 A day off, what to do?  We talk about it a bit, some opt to relax around camp but most decide to go exploring. We follow a trail for a bit to a fork and opt for the less traveled one to the left.

About two hours from our camp we come across a small clearing with a cave and a big triskelion symbol carved into the stone ground. Chushi curiously walks right up to it, whereupon a ghost appears!

Everyone has to make a Fright Check, Chushi makes his possibly because though startled he thinks its likely a friendly spirit. Mouse of course makes here check, because well shes mouse! Chushi is startled (Not having Combat Reflexes that can happen a lot) so loses his first turn in surprise but cheerfully says ho to the ghost as it approaches him.

The Fight!

The ghost impolitely ignores Chushi's greeting and attacks him!  Chushi takes 2 FP damage and decides its not a friendly ghost,it has him grappled. He opts to run away but its not his turn so...  Mouse runs up and stabs the ghost to no effect, followed by half of the party. Rang ponders what she knows about ghosts. Jing Min runs up behind them tugging onto their sleeves suggesting its time to go and Zhige runs up behind Chushi.

Chushi manages to break free (and rolls 5 to resist the FP drain) and though he was going to run off, changes his mind. Not leaving Mouse there! He wonders if his bear claw might hurt it since its a fresh kill.  Right after that Rang calls out there vulnerable to bones so hes more confident in the idea and pulls it out.

Jing Min does the same, Jian Wu comes up and slashes at it with his axe, and Zhige does the first thing to make it nervous and casts a foxfire spell at it, though it dodges. Ting runs up and rushes into it, figuring he has bones but does not hurt it.

Ren and Rang run to the lip above the cave where we saw a bunch of bones.

Ting decides to bloody his knuckles in case it has to be exposed bone and smashes the ground. Unfortunately that releases two more ghosts! He then gets grappled for his trouble, while one ghost heads towards those going for the bones and the other goes after Jing Min.

Things looking kinda dicey here!

Jing Min stabs the first ghost and hurts it! Drawing first blood! Zhiges foxfire comes around for another pass (cool spell) and burns the ghost. Chushi slashes with the bear claw but misses.

Jing Ming backs up and goes for the ghost that came at him from behind, Chushi finishes off the first ghost with a very lucky slash. So half the party is on each remaining ghost and now armed with bones.

Ting gets grappled by the ghost and proceeds to get his energy drained, also he is prone from a really bad dodge attempt. Unfortunately in our efforts to kill the ghost the rest of us hurt him more than the ghost.  Chushi does a Telegraphic horizontal slash so if he misses he wont hit Ting, Zhige tries to heal Ting, and Jin Ming tries an armed grapple using the bone to pull it off Ting. We struggle a few rounds but Jin Wu lands a powerful hit and dispatches that ghost.  Meantime the others finished of their ghost as well.

Chushi figures the ghosts may come back and starts to make a warning sign. While Zhige is healing Ting up (hes still too exhausted to move fast but at least she heals the damage his friends inflicted on him. An old woman appears and tells us what a great job we did, she has been trying to exorcise them for some time but is too old to do much.  Since the ghosts wont be coming back, Chushi changes the sign to read "No more ghosts here, your welcome. Team Tiger"

She then invites us to her place, the right fork.

This Old House

The team follows her back to the house which is a really big and nice place.  Shes cooking venison in the oven and cuts up some greens to make a stew. We ask why another exorcist or warrior wasn't dispatched to help but she informs us some blood sorcerer is summoning them all over the place. We ask if she works for the Order, she laughs and tells she kinda works with the Order, she was here long before they were. Chushi thinks about it carefully but declines to directly ask how old she is, she might think it rude. He wanders around and tries to figure out if she is either a spirit or a Taoist Immortal, maybe even something else.

We end the session here, picking up next week.

Post-Mortem

See what I did there? 

Next week will likely be our last one before the time skip when we do off screen training and get a year or two older. One player is moving the next week so the timing worked out perfectly.

We started late, after about 30 minutes of chatting but needed no catchup after last time. It was a fun ride and we did surprisingly well.  Luckily their were bones available and we had the bear claws to help out.

TTJP Season 1 Session 11 The Tiger Team Lumberjacks!

After completing the choosing or initiation test  our group is moved to new barracks and given a days rest before their next assignment.

GM Link Session 11

Casting: Tiger Team!

• Jian Wu (Two) (Christian) 8M, strong guy
• Jiao Ting (Eight) (Chris D) 8M
• Liang Jing Min (Five) (Randy) 8M, sorcerer
• Nongmin Chushi (Seven) (Rory) 8M, says he talks to spirits, inquisitive and charming more than creepy despite possibly being insane.
• Shang Yi (One) (Calvin) 8M, natural leader and archer.
• Zhiyu Zhige (Nine) (Laurie) 8F, sorcerer specializing in healing.
• He Bohi (Eleven) 8M, Twin, grew up near the docks.
• He Donghai (Twelve) 8M, grew up near the docks.
• He Qing (Four) 9M, bully of the group.
• Laoshu (Three aka Mouse) 9F, quiet and good with a knife.
• Meiyou Ren (Six) M Also good with a knife
• Rang Baozhai (Ten) 11F, our bookworm and nerd.

GURPS Lumberjacking!

So the first assignment under our new teacher is basically a team building exercise. Were given a cart and sent to the southern end of the valley to cut firewood. We have to bring back 3,000 pounds of firewood in 5 days. Naturally no one knows how to drive a cart, or even ride a horse. Chushi has Animal Handling (Goats) and that seems our best shot so he introduces himself to the horse, which kind of ignores him and figures "Didnt bite me! Good enough" and he drives the cart. Afew who have not taken the Hiking skill pile in and the rest walk. Chushi takes his time and gets used to the horse and it to him. The group requisitions with some basic gear, no food, a bow for the archer and a fishing pole for Chushi.

We find a good spot and most of the group decides to cut wood, but a few go off looking for food. Yi has the bow so goes hunting,while Ting and Zhige go out foraging.

Day 1 Woodcutting

• He Bohai (+30%) 112.32 lbs
• He Donghai (+25%) 108 lbs
• He Qing (+0%) 76.8 lbs.
• Meiyou Ren (+35%) 155.52 lbs.
• Jian Wu (+10%) 116.16 lbs.
• Liang Jing Min (+35%) 103.68
• Chushi (+30%) 99.84
• Rang Baozhai (Leadership) (+35%) 
• Sub-Total: 772.32 lbs Total: 1,042.64 lbs
• Sheng Yi (Hunting) Wasted 1st/400 lb. deer 2nd
• Jiao Ting (Foraging) +10 meals
• Zhiyu Zhige (Foraging) +8 meals

So 1/3 the wood we need on day 1 and 18 meals from our foragers plus the deer. However there was a complication. The 8 year old Sheng Yi was unable to bring the 400 pound deer back on his own and had to come back for help. When some people (5 of us) went to get it (notably those with Survival so we can butcher it properly) we found a bear had just come across it and was looking it over. Chushi wanted to back away and told the group to back away slowly. The bear however was pretty angry and reared up to challenge us. Sheng Yi promptly shot it with an arrow in the vitals so running away no longer an option.

Zhige tried to do something magical but nothing we could see happened, Meiyou charged with her axe and hit it, followed by Chushi getting in a lucky shot. Several of us gang up on the bear doing all out attacks to make up for our low skills (as in most using default axe) and though it takes a few swipes the shock penalties and some lucky rolls we manage to kill it without it actually hitting anyone. 

Chushi skins and dresses the bear (bad roll losing a lot of good ,meat and the deer (much better roll) getting 400 lbs. of bear and 280 lbs. of deer meat.

Day 2 

• He Bohai (+30%) 112.32 lbs
• He Donghai (+15%) 95.04 lbs
• He Qing (+15%) 88.32 lbs.
• Meiyou Ren (+50%) 172.8 lbs.
• Sheng Yi (+30%) 99.84 lbs.
• Zhiyu Zhige (+35%) 103.68 lbs.
• Jian Wu (+30%) 91.52 lbs
• Liang Jing Min (+10%) 84.48 lbs.
• Rang Baozhai (Leadership) (+25%) 
•  Sub-Total: 948 lbs. Total: 1,060 lbs.
• Chushi (Smoke Meat)
• Jiao Ting (Gather Water/Smoke Meat)
• Jian Wu (Made Smoker)
• Mouse (On Watch)

Day 3

• He Bohai (+0%) 86.4 lbs
• He Donghai (+15%) 99.36 lbs
• He Qing (+5%) 80.64 lbs.
• Meiyou Ren (+15%) 132.48 lbs.
• Sheng Yi (+25%) 96 lbs.
• Zhiyu Zhige (+35%) 103.68 lbs.
• Jian Wu (+45%) 153.12 lbs
• Liang Jing Min (+30%) 99.84 lbs.
• Rang Baozhai (Leadership) (+25%)
•  Sub-Total: 851.52 Total: 1064.4

4th Day

• He Bohai (+35%) 116.64 lbs
• He Donghai (+10%) 95.04 lbs
• He Qing (+15%) 88.32 lbs.
• Meiyou Ren (+50%) 172.8 lbs.
• Sheng Yi (+25%) 96 lbs.
• Zhiyu Zhige (+20%) 92.16 lbs.
• Jian Wu (+40%) 107.52 lbs
• Liang Jing Min (+30%) 99.84 lbs.
• Sub-Total: 868.32
• Total: 1128.82 Rang Baozhai (Leadership) (+30%)

At this point we reached our goal and will spend a day exploring or relaxing before heading back. Our cart will be full of excess meat thats been smoked for 3 days so should last and well have stories to tell about how we took down a bear.

Aftermath

So the numbers above are probably not interesting but I decided to include them anyway. It shows just how good GURPS is about handling all kinds of things if you want it to..

The GM could easily have set an arbitrary amount and had us make a die roll to see if we made it or not, instead he pulled out some rules,mostly from GURPS Low Tech and used the figure ST *0.8 for amount of wood per hour, we opted to work 12 hours most of us, our lazy bully only did 8 hours a day. Also we got a bonus from Extra Effort and Leadership to increase efficiency. The rules for how much meat and how long it took to cut it up and smoke it were also from the Low Tech series of books.

Also were kids but were extraordinary kids who will hopefully one day be notable adults.  So we have a lot of high wills, many adding Single-Minded, Less Sleep, and Reduced Consumption.

We had fun socializing and organizing ourselves, then killing the bear. A few got to show off some of our skills and abilities. These first several sessions were just kids in a secret martial arts school so its more about getting to know each other and character growth than exotic adventures.

TTJP B-Team Season 1, Episodes 9 & 10 A Fresh Beginning

This was our first and second session of the new characters. Also we picked up a new player (Randy) giving us 5 players in the group. With an announcement that another one would be taking over one of the NPCs for a total of 6 players.

GM Link Session 9

GM Link Session 10

Basic Concept

This new group is a bunch of youngsters 8 to 12 living in a monastery kind of thing called the Order. There are twelve kids per creche, each creche has a "minder"or chaperone till they are old and fit enough to begin formal training. Some of us have been here several years, brought in as orphans or sold to the Order.

The Order is a powerful training and quasi military organization run by the Empire that patrols the land and its borders looking for monsters, rebels, and unrest.  Pretty much anything that can pose a threat to the empire. The outlined plan is to have several sessions then a break of a year or two game time, then repeat the cycle a few times till were all adults. GURPS Social Engineering: Back to School will be used to help with training, and of course as its a Wuxia/Xianxia setting GURPS Martial Arts will be essential for its additional rules and listed martial styles.

This format has an advantage over the "You all meet at an Inn" in that our characters grow up knowing each other. Also the training sequence lets us figure out our characters as we slowly build them (25 point templates plus bonus to start, and most of us reserved much of the bonus points). So we can interact with the other players and the environment so we grow organically and hopefully cohesively. This will be my first time but two of the players already did this in the GMs prior campaign (Ceteri).

So with the intro out of the way....

Casting

• Jian Wu (Two) (Christian) 8M, strong guy
• Jiao Ting (Eight) (Chris D) 8M
• Liang Jing Min (Five) (Randy) 8M, sorcerer
• Nongmin Chushi (Seven) (Rory) 8M, says he talks to spirits, inquisitive and charming more than creepy despite possibly being insane.
• Shang Yi (One) (Calvin) 8M, natural leader and archer.
• Zhiyu Zhige (Nine) (Laurie) 8F, sorcerer specializing in healing.
• He Bohi (Eleven) 8M, Twin, grew up near the docks.
• He Donghai (Twelve) 8M, grew up near the docks.
• He Qing (Four) 9M, bully of the group.
• Laoshu (Three aka Mouse) 9F, quiet and good with a knife.
• Meiyou Ren (Six) M Also good with a knife
• Rang Baozhai (Ten) 11F, our bookworm and nerd.

The Choosing

The creche is out working the farm when were all called in early through the ringing of the bells. Were led to an auditorium and told to take a seat. Each seat has a backpack next to it, most refrain from examining it though the curious Chushi does. It has some clothing, money, a knife, and some basics.

The grandmaster of the Order walks in and tells us it is our time of choosing. We must decide to leave the Order or stay. If we stay we will not be later permitted to leave until we graduate as we will learn some of the Orders secrets. Those who stay are tasked with going up a nearby mountain and retrieving a Jade Heart flower. Were then dismissed!

Most of the crowd chooses to stay, one of our creche departs, the rest head up the mountain after determining that Chushi at least knows what the flower looks like. Many of the other creches have obviously not hiked before and run, we pass them exhausted along the way as we slowly but steadily pace ourselves. The one who left (Rang Baozhai) also catches up with us after changing her mind on leaving.

The first real obstacle is a short cliff face they have to climb up. Taking our time, using the provided equipment, and helping each other gives us a+5 Task Modifier; trouble is some have to resort to default Climbing skill, which is DX-5! Chushi fails and falls for 1 HP damage, another falls for 6 and has to be healed by Zhige.

Session is then called due to real life drama.

Look! Man Eating Plants!

Next session the group continues on up the mountain until just above the snowline we spot a bush of Jade Heart Flowers up on a rocky outcropping. Qing shoves pas the group to get the flowers first and as the rest of us advance Jing Min is grappled by a plant off to our right. He does not take it very well and screams in a squeeky voice as he panics (18 on Will roll)! Chushi is hit in the chest with a sharp thorn hurled by another plant. It hurts, a LOT but he keeps his calm as the others, now wary spread out and forward.

The two plants do not survive the 11 children attacking them, though we get pretty banged up.  Its a big fight and hard for Chushi to track everything, but some notable highlights were...

• Zhige yanked out the thorn from Chushi's chest (causing more damage and evoking a scream, but a semi manly one at least -just ask him!) but she heals his damage and he charges one of the plants.
• Ting does an impressive belly flop on a plant, trying either a flying tackle or pretending to jump into bed, we cant tell.
• Mouse really impresses anyone watching with her combat skill, didnt miss or fail to dodge once!
• The plants are tough to cut with our knives but really flammable as Wu guesses. Confirmed by Jing Min walking into a spore could and one plant exploding on those fighting it. No one really objects though, the knives weren't doing much after all. Speaking of which, Baozhai helpfully remembers they are highly flammable about the time Jing Min walks up to one with a lit torch.
• Zhige is not to be trifled with or annoyed. She kicked Qing in the groin for 6 HP! after he got down from the rock with his flower and laughed about the rest of us (who were still fighting).
• It pays to listen to Yi as his directions helped us in the fight.

Chushi as a good gardener gets up on the rock and cuts out 11 flowers for the rest while doing his best to make sure the plant survives.  While up there he notices a cave a short distance away.  Climbing back down, slowly and with Jin Min's torchlight to guide him (getting dark) he tells the group about the cave as he passes out the flowers. Assuming no bear or other wild animal it might be a good shelter to rest while they recover from the battle,  However the group decided its not worth the risk as they have to return by dawn anyway. Undaunted Chushi opts to explore the cave anyhow while everyone else rests or gets healed. Jin Min carefully follows at a safe distance to keep an eye on him.  

Its not a deep cave and no bears, but inside is a hole in the ceiling providing plenty of light and some white jade heart flowers! Chushi asks the spirits if its ok to pick them and after a few minutes with no obvious objection he carefully does so.  He gets 11 flowers (the most he safely can) and carefully puts them in his pouch. The group ties some ropes together to make it easier getting back down that cliff, though sadly the last length unravels and Qing falls down, hurting himself a bit.  Hey, he insisted on going first!

The group makes its way back in plenty of time, not the first to rive but not the last either. They made sure to stick together, Wu even carrying Ting part of the way as he was still hurt. Chushi distributed the white Jade Flowers to everyone but Qing whom he determined the spirit of the cave did not want to get one for his behavior. No one seem to comment on the matter either way.

When we arrived the teachers took stock, made sure we passed the test and complimented us on killing two Dark Flowers. Apparently they lose several children a year to them on these quests. Chushi thanked them for letting us know ahead of time. The Alchemist made a tincture of all the flowers with each student getting one, he said we could drink it for its healing and health benefits or sell, as we choose. He was surprised at the white flowers  and asked Chushi f he knew what they were and how rare? Chushi only knew it was a mythical plant and when queried said he found it in a cave. Oddly enough neither he nor Jin Min could exactly recall quite how to find it again.

Aftermath

Fun game, our first with a new player. The flower rewards were a nice benefit (Green +5 pts, White +15 pts towards HT or a health related advantage - more if we let them steep a year or more). This was an obvious plot device to keep the group together as we all need HT 12 (including Fit bonus) to begin Intensive Training and not everyone in the group met that requirement.

It was kind of funny as the GM was mildly pained when the group opted not to go into the cave, I mean it was a pretty obvious hook but smart money was not exploring it since we had what we came for and were pretty banged up.  Luckily Chushi is more curious than smart (10 point disadvantage) and the GMs efforts were not foiled.

I got a better feel for Chushi and its still early yet with lots of tests and trials to shape him but with this adventure I filled out more of his concept and goals.  Currently looking at a Druid/Shaman or given that were also Martial Artists maybe a Ranger/Shaman without the bow (he started with Channeling and was going to be a shaman, had Green Thumb 2 but that was mostly for his cooking). Also going to play up the talks to spirits angle a bit more, its kinda fun. Shaman seem to be rarer than Sorcerers and of course martial artists so not everyone is sure about his ability. Especially the kids. Initially I had planned for more an urban than rural shaman as I expect most noncombat activity to occur in town and he will still be good in town since hes the designated Face.

The GM is still working out details but so far most shamanic abilities are heavily geared towards outdoors and reviewing that material plus the lucky plant plot seem good indicators.