Order: Kela: 22 Di Di: 19 Bakemono 2: 18 Dizzy: 17 Emi: 16 Summoned Eagle: 16 Bakemono 3: 16 Vi: 15 Cami: 10 Bakemono 5: 8 Bakemono 6: 5 Jitsol: 4 Bakemono 7&8: 4 Bakemono 9: 3 Round 3: Kela kills Bakemono 9 Di Di charges in to finish off Bakemono 3, deals a 3 damage bite Bakemono 3 misses Vi Vi misses Bakemono 3. Again. Dizzy does nothing Emi magic missiles Bakemono 3 for 3, ending the fight. Everything gets CDG'd.

Initiative: Kela: 22 Di Di: 19 Bakemono 2: 18 Dizzy: 17 Emi: 16 Summoned Eagle: 16 Bakemono 3: 16 Vi: 15 Bakemono 4: 12 Cami: 10 Bakemono 5: 8 Bakemono 6: 5 Jitsol: 4 Bakemono 7&8: 4 Bakemono 9&10: 3 Round 2: Kela Flurry Strikes, deals 2 damage to Bakemono 9, 7 to 10, knocking 10 out. Di Di kills Bakemono 2. Dizzy casts CLW on Di Di. Emi casts Sleep on the 3 goblins around Jitsol - 6, 7, 8. They all fail their saves. Eagle attacks, misses Bakemono 3 Cami CLWs Jitsol for 9. Jitsol CDGs Bakemono 7. Bakemono 9 misses Kela.

Stuff goes here.

Kara-Tur is mostly as described in the Forgotten Realms setting, with one major change - other primary races exist. While the humans remain the primary indigenous inhabitants of Kara-Tur, there are also indigenous elves, dwarves and ratfolk, making up a not-insignificant chunk of the Kara-Turan population. Many mountain ranges host a dwarven mountainhome (which, themselves, welcome a large number of mountain spirit folk as kin), while the ratfolk infest the larger cities and the elves tend to be found in the same places as the spirit folk; wild and wood elves with the bamboo spirit folk, aquatic elves with the river and sea spirit folk. While they all remain a minority within the borders of Kara-Tur and its various countries and provinces, it's a not-insignificant one. Their presence at the upper levels of society is non-existent, however. Halflings of Kara-Tur speak in hushed tones about some great massacre that drove them east and into Kara-Tur several centuries ago; they have now become a common sight in the various cities, towns and villages, usually representing around 2% of any settlement's population. Gnomes are an exceptional rarity in Kara-Tur, with only some few hundred within its borders at any one time. Half-Elves are a more common occurrence than elves; more than one tale tells of a Kara-Turan being bewitched by the beauty of elves and led into the forests or sea and having a half-elven child placed at their doorstep as much as two years later. Half-Orcs are unfortunately commonplace and for the stereotypical reasons. Half-orcs are usually considered despoiled from birth, and as such tend to be pushed to the fringes of society; many Tongs, Yakuza, and Triads count a number of disenfranchised half-orcs among their number. Most other races can be found within Kara-Tur, but generally as visitors, and make up a small percent of a percent worth of the overall population. Both Shou Lung and Wa have extensive spelljammer ports that pay host to a variety of spelljamming trader vessels, further enriching the nations. They also have their own spelljamming fleets, which are ostensibly part of their navies but in practice are a separate entity.

Cami's Shadow, aka Yinying A strange golden macaque that was found with Cami. Has a penchant for mischief. Started to speak when Cami did, and is fluent in the same languages that its master is. Ostensibly a female macaque. (Decoy Familiar) Wuya Despite her intelligence and creativity, Emi is very bad at naming things, thus when she first summoned her raven familiar, she could only call it Wuya, or Raven. Wuya has expressed displeasure at this, but has become resigned to its name. Wuya is creeped out by Yinying. Speaks fluent Kao te Shou. (Sage Familiar) Di Di Dizzy's animal companion, a large cat-like creature with armor like an armadillo's. Was being transported by an exotic animals trader through Xianxing when it broke free of its cage and went on a rampage through the harbor, ultimately coming face-to-face with Dizzy, who had been out purchasing dinner at the docks. Dizzy calmed the beast and stopped its rampage, and the warcat refused to be parted from her. The merchant had to pay a massive tax for the wreckage the beast had caused and lost a potentially valuable sale that day. The two have been inseparable since. Dizzy definitely makes use of her Scary Dog Privilege that Di Di affords her. Chi Tu The personal horse of Go Masayoshi, a very large red horse, which he purchased some years ago after his caravan business was booming. He paid a small fortune for the creature and named it after a mythic warrior's horse, and the beast has proven almost as talented as said mythic horse.

Name: Otake Emi Race: Ratfolk Class: Conjurer//Occultist Arcanist Age: 28 Gender: Femme, AFAB Sexuality: Panromantic, Pansexual, Polyamorous Current Level: 1 Traits: Best Friend (Ameiko), Bauble Fascination, Resilient Height: 3'4" Weight: 50 lbs The Otake clan of ratfolk have lived in Xianxing for nearly as long as there's been a city here. Their clan warrens are quite extensive and run quite deep beneath the city, and are intermingled with the warrens of dozens of other ratfolk clans that they've intermarried with. Despite this, they're not a very prominent clan, just a prolific one. Emi is the middle child amidst the fifteen other ratfolk children her parents had, often overlooked and frequently forgotten about, especially as she got old enough to 'take care of herself'. This fact hit her at an early age, and thus she was frequently out of the warrens to be her own person. This is how she met Ameiko when they both were children, emerging from the warrens just outside the Kaijitsu home just as Ameiko was storming out of the house after another argument with her father. 'Met' might be a strong word; Ameiko tripped over Emi's head as she started to emerge for the first time, giving the young ratfolk a solid kicking from her rapid stride and nearly sending Emi plummeting down the makeshift ladders used to crawl to the surface. A thousand apologies later, the two were walking together and sharing stories of their home lives, traumabonding and becoming fast friends through shared misery. Ameiko was not Emi's only friend up on the surface. Her rangings through Xianxing had her falling in with a group of street urchins who ran wild through Xianxing, pilfering small trinkets or food and cackling madly as they fled from guards who didn't try very hard to catch them. All was well and fine, until the urchin gang took it into their heads to break into the residence of the wu ren of Xianxiang, Zhang Changming. Stories of the ancient mage went back centuries, so he must have all sorts of things hidden in his home! And ratfolk warrens ran all over the city - surely Emi knew a secret way into his basement, right? Emi did, in fact, know where the closest warren to the man's home was, and knew it was only about five feet of upward digging before they were in his basement. In the dead of night, they stole into the warrens and did the necessary digging, emerging up into the wu ren's basement, bypassing who knows how many deadly wards around his home. Truthfully, Changming didn't ward his home from intruders, and only warded some few discrete rooms, relying instead on illusions to obscure the entrance of the most valuable rooms. Unfortunately, as the children crept quietly through the home looking for trinkets to pilfer, Emi ran across one of those illusions - or rather, through one, right into the wu ren's library. Fascination came over her at the sight of scrolls and books, and she found she couldn't help herself. She began to read. And read. And read. Thirty books later, the children had been discovered by Changming and ejected from his home by his magic - gently, of course, he wasn't a monster, though he had shook them down for anything they might have pilfered - and Emi was still reading. She was consumed by the texts of ancient history and wild stories, and the treatises of magic that she didn't understand but just reading the words filled her with glee. It was mid-afternoon when she finally passed out atop one of the books, half-hidden by the stacks and stacks of books around her, and when Changming discovered he had one more intruder. Emi awoke later that night, and she had been transferred back into her own warren. A small note had been pinned to her ear, replacing one of the dangly earrings she wore that read 'If you want your earring back, return. You show promise. - Zhang Changming' And thus it was a very timid ratfolk who approached Zhang Changming's home and requested entry - this time, at the entryway, rather than skulking back in. Changming welcomed her, took her in, and had her show him how she and her urchins had gained entry; there was a concrete floor in his basement the next day. Changming offered her access to his library, but on one condition; she would have to become his apprentice. She leapt at the chance, and soon enough, her days were divided between being educated by Changming, reading through his library, and spending time with Ameiko, who was very happy for her friend's education. Changming only had one disappointment in Emi - that her skills with magic ran more towards the physical than the metaphysical, like his own specializations. Still, he delighted in seeing the young ratfolk master her early conjurations and summonings, even if he would have preferred an apprentice that could divine. Her status as Zhang Changming's apprentice spread through Xianxing, and suddenly she was afforded respect that even her own family would never show her; it was a heady feeling, seeing people bow to her and refer to her as Little Wu Ren. But she found even more joy in her blossoming arcane talents, and her communing with other planes to draw creatures into the physical. Time passed, as it did. She grew into her talents and lost her best friend when Ameiko fled into the wilderness to adventure; she had approached Emi to go along, but the girl's retiring nature had caused her to stay behind and pray for her best friend's success. When Ameiko returned, she got the full story of the cannibalistic adventure that had ended Ameiko's career and consoled her friend as best she could. Now she spends her days seeking out new arcane lore to add to Zhang Changming's library, content in her position and her slow accumulation of power, even as she approaches the mid-point of her life, content in her life and even with a decent relationship with her family that so often overlooked her, who were so proud of her now that she had carved herself out a space in the world.

Firework-wielding bakemono corner Di Di, ranging ahead of the group, and attack. The emapthic link alerts Dizzy, Dizzy alerts the rest, and they all charge in to see the scene. Initiative: Kela: 22 Di Di: 19 Bakemono 2: 18 Dizzy: 17 Emi: 16 Summoned Eagle: 16 Bakemono 3: 16 Vi: 15 Bakemono 4: 12 Cami: 10 Bakemono 5: 8 Bakemono 6: 5 Jitsol: 4 Bakemono 7&8: 4 Bakemono 9&10: 3 Kela charges, sneak attacks, destroys Bakemono 1 Di Di whiffs her full attack. Bakemono 2 gets a 3-damage hit in on Di Di. Dizzy Commands Bakemono 2 to Fall. Emi summons an Eagle into combat with Conjurer's Focus. Summoned Eagle dives at Bakemono 3, misses. Bakemono 3 tries to firework the summoned eagle, misses wildly. Vi enters rage, charges, cuts Bakemono 4 in half. Cami puts Bakemono 5 to sleep with her Slumber hex. Bakemono 6 charges and stabs Jitsol, misses. Jitsol uses Throwing Shell, deals 6 damage, catches shield. Bakemono 7 takes an AoO from Vi. 7 & 8 charge Jitsol, 7 scores a critical for 10 damage. 9 & 10 attack Kela, but both are way off the mark.

There are many secret societies within Shou Lung itself that seek to bring down the Kuo Dynasty; the Society of the Jade Empress, for instance, wishes to replace the Kuo Dynasty with the Hai Dynasty, a grudge stretching back multiple dynasties all the way to the Year of the Purring Pard. The Many-Hued Peacock Society wishes to see the intricate and complex bureaucracy of the Empire destroyed. The Society of the Purple Lotus wish to do away with the Mandarinate and return rule directly to the noble families of Shou Lung. But they all fail, and pale, in comparison to the Emperor's own secret society, bodyguards, and police force - the Royal Vagabonds. For centuries, the Royal Vagabonds have lived apart from the rest of Shou Lung, a secret clan of ninja that serve the Emperor directly, with no allegiances to aught but the Emperor of the current dynasty. Their children are raised in a secret village, and drilled from birth to live and die for the Shou Emperor, and enter service from an early age. Scant few individuals know of the Royal Vagabonds, for they come and go like the shadow, and only they themselves can count their number. That is, until about a century ago when the various oni of Shou Lung banded together and invaded the secret village of the Royal Vagabonds, warping their minds with fell magic and enslaving them into their service. Calling themselves the Five Storms, they turned the Royal Vagabonds' loyalties to themselves, and they systematically set about erasing every claimant to the throne of Shou Lung over the next fifty years. Only one family survived, and then, only barely; only Li Huiling and his young son, along with a group of vassals and guards, fortuitously forewarned, manage to turn aside the assassins' blades and flee, but not before stealing into the Imperial Palace and making off with the Emblems of Imperial Authority. With the death of the Seventh Emperor Chin of the Kuo Dynasty and that of his young son in 1312 DR (Shou Year 2562) and the assassination of any other who could lay claim to the throne save their puppet, the Five Storms installed the only remaining candidate, Takahiro Soto, to the throne of Shou Lung, while the Five Storms continued their search for the Emblems of Imperial Authority that would legitimize his rule. Unfortunately for them, Li Huiling had fled far. Pausing in the flight of his household only briefly in Hai Yuan, in the forest bordering the ocean, to entrust the warding box in the deep, secret vaults of his late wife's ancestral home, Laoshulin, her birth family having been spared for having no claim to the throne of Shou Lung. Then, with the aid of his late wife's family, they commissioned a ship to take them to distant Ausa, where Tsutoku changed his name to Kaijitsu Rokuro. Selling his ancestral blade, Suishen, to a rich merchant in Ausa to further their flight into the historically antagonistic state of T'u Lung. They eventually settled into Wai, in a city known as Xianxiang, a place known mostly for its pleasure district, and Rokuro became a simple glassblower, apprenticing to an established one in Xianxiang. He proved to be a skilled glassblower, and before long had taken over his master's glassworks, the ancient master surrendering it to the youth to retire and live out his dotage spoiling his great-grandchildren. His son, name changed to Kaijitsu Lonjiku before he could even remember his birth name, proved to be equally as talented as his father, and soon the two were churning out elaborate pieces to decorate the homes of decadent noble, shogun, and even the more prominent pleasure houses of the city. But Rokuro never forgot the assassination. As he grew older, he knew he had to reveal to his son his true heritage, and so soon commissioned a ship to take them back to Shou Lung, to return to Laoshulin where the Emblems of Imperial Authority still lay. Unfortunately, a massive storm hit the coast as soon as they reached Laoshulin, and after several days in Laoshulin while the storms raged, Rokuro agonized over how to break the news to Lonjiku. Unfortunately, Lonjiku's patience was not the best when it came to a subject his father had been so tight-lipped about, and he opened the warding box, exposing the Emblems of Imperial Authority to scrying. Horrified, Rokuro sealed the box up and told the head of his household guard to get everyone back onto the ships, including Lonjiku, and sent them off into the storm, promising to follow later after throwing the potentially incoming assassins. It took barely an hour for the Royal Vagabonds to sweep across Laoshulin, with the three vessels only barely away and into the storms. With chilling efficiency, the assassins slaughtered every last person in Laoshulin, too quickly for them to even learn of the vaults the warding box now lay in, forgotten. They learned of the family's flight to T'u Lung, and dispatched a small group to settle and assimilate into the country and continue their search for any survivors. They learned of the three ships capsizing and sinking in the wild storms that raged across the coastline shared between, and assumed the Emblems of Imperial Authority had simply sank to the bottom of the ocean, along with any issue. Lonjiku, however, survived, drifting on broken planks all the way to the wharves of Ausa, getting fished out of the harbor. Returning home to Xianxiang, he resumed his life, married a wife, had children, killed his own wife for birthing a bastard, and ultimately died when his wife's adulterous son led goblins into Xianxiang as retaliation for his poor treatment.

This story is told with a combination of D&D 3.X mechanics. Pathfinder 1E mechanics hold most sway. Elephant in the Room is in effect. Background Skills are in effect. All other systems except for Spheres of Might and Power will make an appearance. Spontaneous 9th-level spell gaining casters have their spellcasting advanced by one level starting at level 2 (thus a 2nd level sorcerer has spells known of a 3rd level sorcerer) but still have a caster level of their actual level. Just because Skip Hates Sorcerers is no reason to keep them delayed. Spell Points, with the Vitalizing subsystem, is in effect. Gestalt casters combine their spell point pools together and can use them for any of their spells, just like gestalt spherecasters. This will also hold true for any gestalt psions; psion/casters will combine their psi point pool and their spell point pools. Yes this means around 3rd level spells per day becomes less of an issue and goes away pretty much entirely by 9th with blood money and 13th without. It fits the sort of storytelling progression I want to do (see: xianxia, cultivators, gradually becoming deific in stamina and go power). Cantrips can be infinitely cast rather than limited. Spells cast under this system no longer have their caster level limits and scale with full caster level, up to your maximum caster level. Caster level boosts, like Orange Prism Ioun Stones and whatnot, allow you to exceed this maximum further. Spells only require upscaling if they are within your highest 3 spell levels (thus a 9th level caster wouldn't need to spend extra spell points for 1st or 2nd level spells), or highest spell level for Hybrid casters (thus a 10th level Hybrid wouldn't need to spend extra spell points on 1st, 2nd or 3rd level spells). Healing and Inflict spells do not require upscaling and can always be cast for maximum effect for minimum cost, and no longer have caster level maximums. Harm and Heal also no longer require upscaling. All Hybrid characters (such as Paladin, Ranger, Bloodrager,  etc.) use the Magus spellcasting progression if prepared and the Bard spellcasting progression if spontaneous, gain spell points equal to a Bard, and have caster levels equal to their class levels. They get full access to the 5th and 6th level spells of their "casting parent class" for those spell levels. If a spell appears on both lists, use the lower-level version of the spell for the hybrid character (thus Greater Angelic Aspect would be an 8th level spell for a Cleric but a 4th level spell for a Paladin). All classes affected: any class that originally started gaining spells at 4th level. Various 3.5 and 3rd-party spells will make an appearance. There won't be a bunch of dragons dying to Shivering Touch, though. Probably. Wild Shape functions as it did in 3.5. All other polymorphing functions as per Pathfinder 1E. All classes gain an extra +2 skill points per level just to make them more varied. All major players will be Gestalt characters, but by and large, the Gestalts will simply be an expanding of their primary capabilities. There won't be a large glut of "all-rounders" with full BAB and all good saves and dual 9s spellcasting. The gestalt characters are written mostly as single-class characters would be. Things take place in the Forgotten Realms rather than Golarion. I find the setting more comfortable to write and play in, with a curious mixture of Points of Light and established civilization, allowing one more or less free reign to develop how they wish. The game will begin in 1363 DR, five years after the Time of Troubles. This will be written with the acknowledgment that most campaign settings are actually post-apocalyptic Iron Age settings with various anachronisms, whether or not the authors acknowledge that, with an overall xianxia look to how characters behave and react.

15 11 12 13 17 17 16 15 16 16 12 11 9 14 14 14 13 13 15 10 14 13 12 13 10 15 16 13 12 10 13 15 13 16 16 16                                                                         Cami chooses Row 2 for 16, 15, 16, 16, 12, 11 and alters the points on a 1:1 basis to even things out, resulting in 18, 14, 16, 16, 12, 10 Jitsol chooses diagonal top-right for 17, 12, 14, 14, 15, 13 and alters the points on a 1:1 basis to even things out, resulting in 18, 12, 14, 14, 16, 12 Kela chooses Row 1 for 15, 11, 12, 13, 17, 17 and alters the points on a 1:1 basis to even things out, resulting in 14, 11, 12, 12, 18, 18 Dizzy chooses Row 6 for 13, 15, 13, 16, 16, 16, 16 and alters the points on a 1:1 basis to even things out, resulting in 12, 14, 13, 16, 16, 18 Vi chooses Row 1 for 15, 11, 12, 13, 17, 17 and alters the points on a 1:1 basis to even things out, resulting in 14, 10, 12, 13, 18, 18 Emi chooses Row 6 for 13, 15, 13, 16, 16, 16 and alters the points on a 1:1 basis to even things out, resulting in 12, 14, 13, 16, 16, 18

This is where the 6 PCs (Cami, Jitsol, Dizzy, Kela, Vi, Emi) get to choose their stats.

Xianxing LN large city Corruption +7; Crime +2; Economy +5; Law +6; Lore +4; Society +4 Qualities cruel watch, gambling, population surge, romantic, tourist attraction Danger +20; Disadvantages DEMOGRAPHICS Government overlord Population 12,000 (85% human, 5% ratfolk, 3% dwarf, 7% mixed other races) NOTABLE NPCs Governor Hong Kwan To LE male human samurai//aristocrat 12 Hatamoto Xi Yu LN female human samurai//slayer 9 Wu Ren Zhang Changming N male human arcanist//diviner 15 MARKETPLACE Base Value 9,600 gp; Purchase Limit 50,000 gp; Spellcasting 7th Minor Items 4d4*2; Medium Items 3d4; Major Items 2d4 Xianxing is one of, if not the, oldest cities in Wai - now East Wai. Situated on East Wai's northeastern peninsula, bordering both the Fenghsintzu River and the Celestial Sea, Xianxing has been a bustling port city for as long as any records can detail. The most populous city, Xianxing is filled with foreigners, tourists, and merchants that flow in and out of its gates and massive harbor in great numbers every day. Xianxing has also, due to the tides of war both within T'u Lung and against Shou, changed hands a thousand times in a thousand years, giving it the nickname of "The City of Shifting Tides and Allegiances". Regardless of its standing - though now it serves as the crown jewel of East Wai - the people who live there have barely changed. Predominantly peopled by humans, the city has long had a thriving ratfolk community, frequently making their homes beneath the homes of others; many a basement expansion has stumbled into a ratfolk den, at least before the ratfolk began living deeper underground. A small, but prevalent community of dwarves also call Xianxing home, come down from the nearby Ching-hsien-ch’eng-kuan Mountains that sit at Xianxing's back, either from dishonor by choice, though few speak of the Mountainhome contained within in any case. The markets of Xianxing are the biggest draw; sprawling through several square blocks worth of city, almost anything one could imagine can be found for the right price. The second-biggest draw is the pleasure district, where numerous brothels, gambling dens, and drug dens can be found, where a person could lose themselves in any vice imaginable. It's hard to tell where the markets and the pleasure district end and begin; occasionally, they even intertwine with each other through Xianxing's many streets. Xianxing's twin harbors rival any in the world, both those that welcome river vessels from the Fenghsintzu River and those that welcome the ocean-bearing vessels from the Celestial Sea. The sea harbor sprawls beyond the city itself, though mostly for The Royal Navy, consisting of 52 ships of varying sizes, which dock here at the far eastern piers. The vast majority of the city's wealth at any one time can be found on the boats and ships settled into its harbors. Such a rich city needs a kind hand to minister it; unfortunately, the hand that sits atop Xianxing is Governor Hong Kwan To, who is concerned only with his own wealth and keeping the city alive to bring him more wealth. Thankfully, he has a very good second-in-command in Xi Yu, a no-nonsense samurai whose samurai keep the city from getting out of hand, if a bit harshly from time to time; she is not blind to the corruption among her people, either, but only comes down on acts that threaten the security and stability of the city. She is aided in this task by Kwan To's wu ren, an ancient, wizened man named Zhang Changming, whose regular divinations keep her apprised of any truly vile dealings going on in her city. Changming himself desires nothing more than the stability of the city so he can continue his work in peace; what that work is, exactly, is anybody's guess, though he can be seen some days flying high above the sea harbor and looking out on the horizon, seated on nothing in the lotus position. Despite the rampant corruption, Xianxing is a relatively safe city to do business in, with only the occasional cutpurse or murderer lurking in alleyways; this is because Xi Yu punishes criminals brutally. Outside her headquarters in the Golden Lane district are no less than twelve gibbets, always full, either with skeletonized (or decaying) criminals or those waiting to become corpses themselves. Public executions are a rare sight, but take place beneath the gibbets where the executed have their heads lopped off by Xi Yu herself; legend has it that her katana has sent more than a thousand criminals to their deaths on the execution block alone.

Everything starts with Niska Mvashti. As the oldest living resident of Xianxiang, she has been a wise old woman, sage in advice and oddly fluent in the native tongue, having arrived in Xianxiang some three generations ago already wrinkled and old with her vibrant teenage daughter in tow, at the end of a lengthy journey she would spin fanciful tales about while making it clear she was lying through her teeth about the circumstances that brought her to Xianxiang. She has been a staple of fortune-telling, both in tarot and in bone-tossing, and has been visited by many of the residents of Xianxiang to have her cast their fortune in fortune, love, and other sundry. Most permanent residents of the city know her as Grandmother Niska, and few are those who would dare her wrath; stories abound of Grandmother Niska and what she does to those who cross her. In Cami's case, Madame Niska was the omnipresent grandmother, a wise old crone that doled out cryptic advice and laughed uproariously at her youthful antics. In Shalelu's, she was often the first point of contact for the elf; her tarot drawings and her bone casting seemed almost omniscient in detecting when the elf was approaching, and she would frequently meet the elf at the gates to help spread the word of whatever news she brought. Cami, for her part, rather quickly befriended Dizzy and Jitsol as the three of them grew up, and they were frequently found in each other's company throughout Xianxiang, whether it was relaxing in Big Sis Ameiko's tavern or playing at games throughout the town; both Cami and Dizzy tend to think of Ameiko as their big sister as much as Jitsol's. It was in this manner that Emi was brought into their group of friends, spending many an evening relaxing in her best friend's tavern, and the ratfolk became their other big sister. Ameiko and Masayoshi shared an adventuring career for a time before whatever unpleasant event that sent Ameiko into retirement brought them back to Xianxiang nearly a decade ago now. Masayoshi, brought out of an omnipresent funk he was living in before that short-lived career, took his earnings and began life as a well-armed merchant. Vi Badaxe is something of an outsider to the group of friends, but their presence is known as a hard-drinking and tavern brawling dwarf. And it all comes to a head with the death of Niska Mvashti...

Name: Koya Mvashti Race: Human, Gur Class: Cleric//Druid Age: Unknown Gender: Femme, AFAB Sexuality: Panromantic, Pansexual, Polyamorous Current Level: 4 Traits: Height: 5'5" Weight: Rude The second-oldest human in Xianxing, Koya, like her mother Madame Niska, has long been a staple of Semmishi, arriving as a vibrant teenager and having been involved in numerous love affairs, sometimes scandalous, throughout her life. Her healing talents and fortunetelling prowess are well-known throughout the city, with her fortunetelling second only to her ancient mother, as are her desires to go on a long journey at least once, the caravan route she takes with Masayoshi not quite satisfying the wanderlust her own nature and devotion to Shaundakul have instilled in her. With the recent death of Madame Niska, there are some worried that the old healer will take to the roads and even the sea away from Xianxing, as it seemed that only caring for her ancient mother and raising her adoptive child was keeping her bound to Xianxing.

Name: Go Masayoshi Race: Human, Kozakuran Class: Warrior Poet Samurai 1/Rogue 3//Yokai Hunter Ranger 4 Age: 42 Gender: Masc, AMAB Sexuality: Heteroromantic, Pansexual, Monogamous Current Level: 4 Masayoshi began life as a simple child of a farmer in service to their daimyo in Kozakura, raised on stories of glorious battles of their daimyo's samurai in battle. Early life often found young Masayoshi shirking his duties to play pretend at being a samurai with a stick serving as his katana, battling imaginary foes and, in his mind, being one of the greatest samurai on life. Such fantasies were commonplace; storytellers would not infrequently weave tales of a humble peasant being raised to the status of samurai over a single act of might or humility, after all. Masayoshi had no idea the price of such fantasies. Everything happened so quickly. Raiding goblins swept across his village, putting houses to the torch and butchering Masayoshi's family before his very eyes. Enraged, young Masayoshi escaped from the goblins just long enough to retrieve a heavy cleaver from the kitchen that his mother had so often used to prepare meat; he'd seen the actions a thousand times before, and he put those commonplace actions to use on the goblins that had slaughtered his family, cleaving skulls and breaking bones. Of course, he was just one boy, regardless of how filled with rage he was at the goblins taking his family from him. The goblins had the advantage of numbers; for every one of their number he struck down, another took its place, and he was soon in a running fight that ended with him in an alley, the end of which was a building engulfed in flames. Determined to go down with honor, he threw himself at the goblins - who were distracted by the sounds of thundering hooves. The daimyo's samurai had arrived too late to save everyone, but they rode through the town, their katanas and naginata cutting down goblins with ease. Masayoshi, reinvigorated by the sight of the heroic samurai, hurled himself into the fray of the goblins blocking him from them, yelling to get the samurai's attention, setting the cleaver to swinging. He almost, almost cut himself free of the throng - but then a goblin fist hit him in the kidney, and a blade sliced across his face, blood streaming into his eyes, and he collapsed, winded. His valiant efforts had drawn the attention of one of the daimyo's samurai, a short, relatively young woman named Arima Azumi, who had heard the boy's shouting and dismounted to approach the throng of goblins from the back. She had seen Masayoshi bravely slicing his way through, and she was cutting her own way into the back of the pack. She reached him as he went down and stood over him, shouting challenges as her twin katanas cut and dipped and sliced in a ballet of death, accompanied by brutal kicks that sent goblins flying into the sky to be sliced in half or booted into the nearest wall or into the street beyond, where they were promptly stomped apart by her horse. Out of a village of four hundred, barely fifty survived the swift, brutal goblin raid, some having been saved by the samurai and others having defended themselves with crude farming implements. Masayoshi, despite his sliced face, survived his injuries, and his bravery in the face of death had touched Azumi's heart. She took the boy in under her wing as her bushi, and trained him in the art of the samurai as her servant. His grief weighed him down, but the chance to be one of the honorable, noble samurai that stories were told about in service to the daimyo balanced out his grief. He took to Azumi's training and his servitude wholeheartedly, and grew skilled and talented beneath Azumi's tutelage. At the age of 18, shortly after earning his own katana and wakizashi, he found those idealized dreams of the samurai shattered. Azumi had the heart of a true samurai, but not the will to defy her daimyo, which saw Azumi and Masayoshi, now paired, chasing down escaped criminals. It was hardly an effort to run down a pair of common merchants, but the merchants begged for mercy. They had only stolen rice enough to feed their family after a horrific trading season had left them destitute; seeing the husband and wife huddled terrified before him, shielding their children, broke something in Masayoshi. When Azumi went to strike the killing blow, as ordered, Masayoshi's untested katana tasted her blood, beheading her from behind. Horrified at his own actions, Masayoshi screamed at the family to flee. He penned a quick message that the criminals had been taken care of and sent it off to the daimyo - and then he shed his blood-soaked trappings of station and buried them and his weapons, and fled from the service he had long admired and now saw as nothing more than the cruel brutality that it was beneath the Shogunate. He fled from Kozakura entirely, dressing the part of simple farmer once more, and found passage over to T'u Lung to escape the natural justice of his crime, stewed wholly in guilt. He found his way to Xianxing, and drowned his sorrows in the pleasure district in women, opium, and petty brutality enacted on his fellow patrons who couldn't take no for an answer. He became something of a local legend, protector of brothels and opium dens alike, but was in truth little more than a common wastrel with skills beyond his newfound station. After several years of drunken debauchery, a young Kaijitsu Ameiko sought him out after hearing of his legends after a spectacularly loud row with her father, and tasked him with a job - to accompany her into the wilds of T'u Lung to seek adventure. A large sack of gold stolen from her father's house enticed the former Samurai, and he agreed to her terms. With two others, they set out to adventure, and found mild success, and Masayoshi found a measure of pride in his skills again. However, in an adventure neither of them will talk about, only Masayoshi and Ameiko survived with tragic fates befalling their two adventuring companions, sending them back to Xianxing after only a year on the road together. Masayoshi, though, reinvigored by the adventures of defending the downtrodden (even going full Seven Samurai with only four of them at one point) decided that drunken debauchery was no longer befitting him. He took on the trappings of a merchant, the lowest social class of Wa, and purchased a caravan with his adventuring gains. He was occasionally joined by Koya Mvashti, a woman of strange descent but hellishly talented with her healing and fortune-telling, on his roamings through T'u Lung and even briefly into Shou Lung, moving goods and occasionally routing bandits, putting his tainted past behind him. He always returns to Xianxiang for the winter to ride out the brutal cold, and with only mild debauchery keeping him warm through the wintry months, mostly at peace with himself for the first time in a very long time.

Name: Shalelu Andosana Race: Elf Class: Gunsmoke Mystic//Pistolero Gunslinger Age: 141 Gender: Femme, Intersex Sexuality: Unknown Current Level: 6 Traits: Elven Reflexes, Wild Stride (Forest) Height: 6' Weight: 120 lbs Shalelu is something of an enigma to the people of Xianxing. She seems content to roam the wilds, but frequently returns to warn the city of impending invasions or attacks, and seems to have a need for social interaction every so often, venturing into Xianxing proper for a month or two at a time to renew her acquaintenceships and take advantage of Ameiko keeping a room open for her. Her rangings and warnings have proven extremely useful, allowing Xianxing to prepare and prosper against foes. She always smells faintly of gunsmoke, and her large revolver is etched with runes in ancient Elvish and is never far from her reach.

Name: Kaijitsu Ameiko Race: Human, Shou Class: Bard//Fighter Age: 30 Sexuality: Panromantic, Heterosexual, Monogamous Gender: Femme, AFAB Current Level: 4 Height: 5'6" Ameiko is the friendly proprietor of the Rusty Dragon, owner of the local glassworks now greatly diminished by the death of her father, a retired adventuress, and reportedly completely uninterested in any potential suitors. Skilled with blade and a variety of instruments, the Rusty Dragon is known throughout Xianxing as a place of traditional comforts and foods in the midst of the pleasure district.

Name: Kela Race: Half-Orc Class: Unchained Monk of the Silver Fist//Unchained Hidden Blade Rogue Age: 19 Gender: Non-Binary, Assigned Shredded At Birth Sexuality: Unknown Current Level: 1 Traits: Caravan Guard, Reactionary, Tusked Height: 6'5" Weight: 315 lbs Kela's origin is the traditionally sad tale of being rapeget from an orcish raid. Their mother died in birth, and they grew up in a small monastery within Xianxing's walls. Unfortunately, they were never the best student of inner peace and perfection; the towering half-orc was once a tiny mischievous half-orc that ran with wild street urchins, out from under the watchful eye of the monks. As they grew, however, they found a certain level of inner peace from the monk's teachings. Eventually, the half-orc found their way out of the monastery and into the wider world beyond, putting the lessons of mischievousness and fisting to good use by joining up with a caravan headed by Masayoshi, looking to prove themselves.

Name: Vi Badaxe Race: Dwarf Class: Unchained Barbarian//Slayer Age: 60 Gender: Non-Binary, Assigned Dwarf At Birth Sexuality: Panromantic, Gynosexual, Monogamous Current Level: 1 Traits: Friend of the Family, Reactionary, Glory of Old Height: 4' Weight: 176 lbs Vi comes from a long line of successfully disgraced dwarves who have been cast from their Mountainhome and sent into the world in order to regain their honor by slaughtering progressively larger foes until dying in glorious combat. The problem? Their family is too good at it, and eventually ends up returning to the Mountainhome to take a dwarven mate and produce the next in the line, who inevitably ends up disgraced and sent out into the world to regain their honor by slaughtering progressively larger foes. Vi is an anomaly, for they weren't born in a Mountainhome, as their Badaxe parent has yet to regain their honor, and found an acceptable dwarven mate in Xianxiang, where they worked as a glassblower since the inception of the Glassworks, until its destruction. Their Badaxe parent then left Xianxiang to continue their quest, promising to return and take both Vi and their other parent into a Mountainhome in glory. Vi feels proud of their Badaxe parent, and wishes nothing more than to uphold the ancient legacy of Badaxes destroying continually larger foes to gain glory.

Name: Seyas Dizzizzurd, "Dizzy" Race: Halfling Class: Cleric//Druid Age: 25 Gender: Femme, AMAB Sexuality: Homoromantic, Homosexual, Polyamorous Current Level: 1 Traits: Rescued (Koya), Beast of the Society, Focused Mind Height: 3' Weight: 60 lbs Daughter of a pair of retired Harpers, Dizzy has grown up in Xianxing, a small, retiring girl that has never not been chubby. A girl that has kept mostly to herself for most of her life, only being drawn out of her shell by the more extroverted Jitsol, but always saw herself as on the fringes of the friend group. As a young girl, a goblin raid left Dizzy nearly dead, her life's blood seeping from wounds inflicted by dogslicers. She was found in the aftermath by Koya, who healed her, which immediately flared an interest in the healing arts, in which she studied under Koya and devoted herself to Shaundakul. Further training gifted by her parents, one of which was a talented Druid who taught her techniques usually reserved for those inducted into the secretive society. Her parents, sadly, were killed by Chopper who took them unawares and slaughtered them. This has cast Dizzy into a depressive malaise for the last few years.

Name: Jitsol Kaijitsu Race: Human, Shou Class: Bushi Warder//Vigilante Stalker Gender: Femme, AFAB Sexuality: Panromantic, Pansexual, Monogamous Age: 18 Current Level: 1 Traits: Younger Sibling (Ameiko), Reactionary, Unorthodox Training (Tempest Gale->Iron Tortoise) Height: 6' Weight: 150 lbs The youngest daughter of Lonjiku and Atsuii Kaijitsu, a girl that has had to face all kinds of awful goings-on in her life, from the death of her mother, the abusive nature of her father, the absence of her older sister, and the Late Unpleasantness. Despite this, she's grown up to be a solid warrior, a kind young woman, and a good friend more than willing to befriend others. A hopeless romantic, she develops crushes easily and hard, and her outgoing nature tends to turn into stammering and blushing when the object of her most recent crush is the subject of conversation, or worse, actively talking to her.

Name: Cami Mvashti Race: Human, Ethnically Unknown Class: Crossblooded Sorcerer//Seducer Witch Age: 20 Gender: Femme, Intersex Sexuality: Panromantic, Homosexual, Polyamorous Current Level: 1 Traits: Foster Child (Koya), Reactionary, Magical Lineage () Height: 4'5" Weight: 85 lbs Cami doesn't know anything of her true parents; her earliest memories are of Koya's watchful gaze, gentle admonitions, and quiet tutelage. Found abandoned on the road by Koya during one of Masayoshi's caravan trips amidst a pile of looted wagons and corpses, the living babe's only accompaniment a golden macaque. It was seated atop an unburned wagon, and started screaming and waving to the passing caravan to get their attention; within lay the deformed babe that would later come to be known as Cami Mvashti. The macaque forcefully sat on Koya's shoulder as she gathered the child up, and refused to be separated from the young girl. Upon returning to Xianxing, it was Madame Niska that called for caution when her daughter announced her intentions to raise the babe. Her fortune-telling had alerted her to a potential danger in the form of a child - not to mention the obvious omen of her being followed by a raven - but even she was not immune to grandmotherly desires to dote upon a grandbaby. The golden macaque, however, stayed with Cami, her constant companion throughout her growing life; when she began to speak, so did it, as if the monkey were drawing upon Cami's own knowledge and capabilities. Its first words were to name itself Cami's Shadow, or Shadow for short. She grew up a kind, thoughtful child that was easily distracted, flitting from this task to that with wild abandon. It was in this manner that she made friends with Dizzy and Jitsol, coming across them in her town-wanderings led by both her curiosity and the monkey. And it seemed that the danger portent came with the manifestation of Cami's magical talents, in which she nearly burned down several buildings when an errant missile of fire leapt from her fingers and into a haybale, which quickly spread into a conflagration. Her magical talents were nurtured by her grandmother after that, who put her fears about the child bringing doom to rest, as the fortune had been extremely vague and her attempts to cast the bones and read the tarot no longer revealed any danger after that incident. It was the same goblin raid that nearly left Dizzy dead that Cami herself was badly injured. Her attempts to hurl her magic against the goblins ran out of steam, and she was set upon by three goblins who stabbed her repeatedly in anger for killing so many of their kind. She survived, if barely, by Shadow running off off and retrieving a group of town guards that butchered the goblins, but the incident left her with a permanent limp in her left leg. She has a massive crush on Shalelu that basically everyone knows about but she pretends nobody knows but her, Shadow, Dizzy and Jitsol. More recently, Cami has been driven into a depressive episode by the death of her grandmother and magical mentor, Madame Niska. Ostensibly the main Point of View character for the narrative.