November 11, 2023

Hook

Riting Wrongs Session 7, Co-GM Arielle

Plot Synopsis

The party, after a night’s rest, wake and get a retelling of the stories of the birds from Shi Kun. Ace also causes several of the villagers to panic for no apparent reason. They then head out to the plains in an attempt to locate the plague bird Zhenniao. After a time, they find him. They discover that when one goes near him, they are harmed by his poisonous aura. Ace attempts to feed fish (well, the bones that remain thanks to the aura) to win the argumentative pheasant’s favor, and ends up passing out and getting dragged out by the party. Several other party members attempt to convince the bird to give his seeds, leaving the aura before they have a chance to pass out. Eventually, Arikir got into a heated debate with Zhenniao, and (Character) wound up punching the bird, who bit him in response and knocked him out. Arikir fell unconscious when he tried to pull out his companion, as he was in the aura for too long. The party decides to set up camp and rest to try again tomorrow. Upon waking, Arikir and Ace both found seeds in their hands, as Zhenniao only gives seeds to those who are willing to pass out for their cause (and don’t outright attack him).

Returning to the river, the party met with Jingwei, who was surprised that his brethren saw the party as worthy enough for their seeds, and begrudgingly gave them his out of respect for his brethren’s decision. The party then teleported back to Kuang Feng to give the seeds to the spirits to grow for the ritual.

Upon returning to Kuang Fend from the metal dragon temple (aka the crossover sessions), the party appears for the start of the ritual, having collected all the needed ingredients except for the fruit juice: the Artifact from the tower, Jinghua, dragon temple powder, and the vegetables Sishuigen, Ye Du, and Yong Shuishi. However, some spirits have become corrupted, including the Head Teacher (?), and aimed to disrupt the ritual, so the party intervened and entered a sort of dueling competition with the spirits.

The first battle was between a corrupted spirit with the features of a hummingbird and Hex. The hummingbird fought with a dagger and a skateboard, but was no match for the guns of Hex. The second battle was between a spirit with the features of a pigeon and Ace. The pigeon fought with a scythe, but could not land many hits and was bested by Ace’s magic beams. The third fight was between a spirit with the features of a pheasant and Arikir. The pheasant used rocks and earth magic to fight, but Arikir used the power of gravity to defeat the pheasant and the power of healing to not be defeated himself. The next fight was between a spirit with the features of a seagull and Sooshi. Both used the power of water until Sooshi ran out of units, causing his defeat. The next fight was between a spirit with the features of a cardinal and Character. Character quickly destroyed the cardinal’s flaming sword and proceeded to beat him to a pulp. Finally, the Peafowl faced off against Jacklyn, using air magic and illusions to try to beat him. He was no match for several of Jacklyn’s grenades. The party then chose to kill the Peafowl as well as the seagull who had survived his match, thus saving the ritual.

The party, though, knew they had to make it to the train to stop what was about to occur, and teleported back to the metal temple to rejoin their allied party to make their way over for the final battle.

Noteworthy Postgame Events