All Things Under Heaven, Session #5

Our Setting: Iron Springs is a moderately-sized town at the north-western frontier of civilized Tianxia, looking out over a region that many call only The Wastes. The town is built on the broad banks of the Lièkǒu River, the only lifeline that it has back to the Imperial world of bureaucracy and well-tended order, and is supported by terrace-farms cut into the surrounding hill country. It is home to around a thousand souls, making it the largest inhabited center in the surrounding lands.

From Iron Springs a rich tapestry of terrain stretches out towards the sunset: vast and trackless forests, stinking marshes, windswept plains, rugged hills and towering mountains where the workshops of the old Zhang witch-alchemists may still stand. These Wastes are wild, untamed, dangerous, and haunted by beasts and spirits and yet stranger things.

Iron Springs’ extreme remoteness and the wild and untamed nature of The Wastes have contributed to its reputation as a place of last resort, somewhere that only the greedy, the foolish, or the desperate would try and make a life. Those who chafe at the yoke of Imperial authority find the distance from any real governance appealing, while scholars and seekers after the weird and macabre find it a valuable source of information and research subjects.

The Wastes beyond Iron Springs are the stuff of many a legend, promising all those things that are best in life: wealth beyond measure, endless opportunity, danger to be faced, glory to be won, secrets and wonders to behold and uncover, and a means to transform your life. Tame the Wastes, the buzz in the teahouse goes, and the Emperor has promised that a noble title will be yours along with deeds to whatever you manage to wrest from the trackless wilderness.

Our Cast:

• Mei-Xiu, a human Monk (Way of the Tiger's Soul). Given away as a child to a warlord, one of the Rén catfolk. She was raised as an assassin, and now wanders the Wastes to challenge the strong. 
• Ming-Hua, a Wizard (School of Evocation). One of the Guàn birdfolk, from the Tribe of the Ibis. She tired of reading about the arcane in dusty libraries, and now wanders the Wastes to study the weird. 
• Shi, a Fighter (Champion). One of the Rén catfolk from the Tribe of the Leopard. He was a criminal back in the civilised world, and now wanders the Wastes to encounter the strange. 
• Sun Thuy, a Rogue (Swashbuckler). One of the Rén catfolk from the Tribe of the Fox. She was heir to a noble family back in her homeland, and now wanders the Wastes to protect the weak. 
• Xiang Wang, a Druid (Circle of the Five Elements). One of the Guàn birdfolk, from the Tribe of the Heron. They were a roamer and a vagabond already, and now wander the Wastes to seek the path. 

The Session

Last Time: Hearing that the rat-demons must be nearby, Sun and Mei-Xiu seek the highest ground of the hummock and spot a broad squat hillock bare miles away to the north-east, with a yawning black pit in the side where the earth seems to have collapsed inwards and into which a dark shape furtively scurries...

Day Five: Shi arrives, having stayed an extra night at Auntie Ma's to try and capture and interrogate any rat-demons that might come raiding, just as the group make preparations to enter the rat-demon lair. The group sets out stealthily for the hillock, making good time and reaching it around an hour and a half later. 

Stepping up into the area of churned-up mud and clay outside the pit-mouth and entering the tunnel,  Sun and Ming-Hua puncture their feet on the refuse (broken bones, shell pieces, shards of metal) scattered through the mud. The filthy chi in the soil means that supernaturally-fueled infection sets in, and one of the doses of leech dust is used to clean Ming-Hua's more serious wound.

Ming-Hua and Sun are bandaged up by Shi and the group move on, deeper into the warren of tunnels beneath the hillock. Mei-Xiu steps wrong into a muddy hollow where a rat-demon sleeps, the creature waking and stabbing at her leg with a vicious blade. It lets out a warning shriek, awakening two more rat-demons from hollows in the walls, and battle is joined. 

The rat-demons swarm forward, Mei-Xiu taking the brunt of the attack, but fail to do any real harm before being cut down. The last, however, gets off a loud scream that rings out through the tunnels, and summons another five of the creatures who crowd around the front-line: Mei-Xiu and Sun. 

From the rear, Xiang grows a carpet of roots and vines that binds the creatures in place and leaves them unable to evade a roaring wave of flame from Ming-Hua. Shi fires arrow after arrow with precise accuracy while Mei-Xiu and Sun contend with restraint by sticky clay-like mud that bursts off each rat-demon corpse. 

The group whittle down the enemy numbers to one last rat-demon, that scurries up a side-tunnel and out of sight.

Pressing on just far enough to see that the main tunnel leads to an open chamber with a thick central pool of mud where the creatures slept, the group set a magical alarm across the main tunnel and pursue the lone surviving rat-demon up the side-tunnel. They discover a tiny cramped chamber, inexplicably empty until Ming-Hua spots a narrow crawl-space high in the wall that leads away. 

Mei-Xiu's tiger-cub familiar is sent to investigate, and finds a large chamber where more rat-demons relax and wallow and the stolen barrels and sacks of the farmers' food have been piled into a crude chair for a particularly well-fed rat-demon. The rat-demons spot the familiar and though they hurl crude knives fail to dispose of the spy. 

The group take an hour's rest, catching their breath and chewing some salt-fish to regain strength. As they are already preparing to press onwards they overhear a scrabbling from the crawl-space, and arrange themselves to ambush the unwary would-be attacker within. 

They are the ambushed, however, as five rat-demons burst from the muddy floor in front of Shi (guarding the entrance to the cramped chamber) and begin wreaking havoc. The too-small room dissolves into chaos and panic: Shi is swarmed and brought down with a punctured lung, Ming-Hua's fire-spells prove highly effective except against the sneering well-fed leader of the rat-demons, and Xiang collapses the crawl-space on top of the sole rat-demon within before Mei-Xiu disposes of it.

The combat ends as suddenly as it begun, leaving the group in poor shape. Ming-Hua has become re-infected through her open wounds and Sun's condition continues, while Shi's copious wounds and his near-immersion in the filthy mud has the infection running rampant through his system. The blood-poisoning forces haste on the group as they search the warren, retrieving a pair of gems, a pair of bamboo-culm vials, and the stolen supplies of the farmers before retreating to the flat top of the hillock. 

There, Xiang's magic cures the two less serious cases (Ming-Hua and Shun) while the leech dust draws the toxins from Shi's blood. Concerned about their visibility on the hilltop, the group make their way back to the subsided hummock where they spent the night. Xiang's earth-moving magic and Mei-Xiu's skill at camouflage create a secure hidden camp and the group settle in for the afternoon and evening. 

Ming-Hua tries and fails to identify the liquids in the bamboo-culm vials, while Sun unlocks the secrets of the magically-blank book she stole from her parents before leaving home. It spells out the secrets and significance of items left nearby, and after some experimentation it reveals that one vial contains a potion of rapid hyper-accelerated healing and the other a potion that will turn the drinker, body and chi alike, into an immaterial gaseous form. 

Shi sharpens his weapons and does maintenance on his gear, while Xiang projects their chi into the spirit-world and mourns with their allies the death of a panther-spirit they had summoned who was torn apart by the rat-demons. Mei-Xiu keeps a lonesome watch for danger but spots nothing, and a proper watch-order is established as night falls and the group collapse into well-earned sleep. 

Day Six: The night passes quietly, though the disruption of waking for their watch and sleeping again leaves Xiang exhausted in the morning. The group strike out back towards Iron Springs, pausing near the edge of the Nírón Fens at the sound of distressed cries like those of a child coming from the distance. Ming-Hua's owl-familiar investigates and finds a trio of giant salamanders, each longer than a cart, half-hidden in a stretch of bog and letting out the luring noise.

The group move on, watching with gladness as the muddy, dreary swampland gives way once more to flooded forest. They journey at speed now, pushing themselves to make good time back to civilization, but around mid-afternoon as the sun begins to set and the temperature falls the heat of their legs in the water attracts a swarm of voracious lampreys.

Shi and Mei-Xiu extract themselves to higher dry ground, while Ming-Hua and Xiang take the brunt of the lampreys' hunger. Mei-Xiu returns, putting herself in danger's way to protect her allies and friends. As Shi attempt to thin the numbers in the water through archery a stray arrow very nearly hits the already-bleeding Xiang, but is snatched from the air by Mei-Xiu in an unprecedented display of skill.

The swarms thin out enough that they are no longer a threat and the group move to dry land, leaving the cover of the flooded forest for the exposed flat plains on the far side of  the river. A few hours later night falls fully, and they make camp in a hollow in the river-bank made by Xiang with their earth-moving magic.

Day Seven: The next day begins early, the group quickly making it to where the flooded forest ended and the hills rose upwards towards Iron Springs on the far side of the river. Crossing the water, they press onward and around midday reach Auntie Ma's stilt-raised farmhouse.

Auntie Ma greets them, treats the lamprey wounds on their legs, and then summons her extended family and the neighbors for a celebratory feast. Ming-Hua, Xiang, and Mei-Xiu all in their own way impress the children, while Sun continues to charm Auntie Ma and Shi slips into an early doze. The feast drags on long into the evening as the group return the stolen food to the community and Xiang tells the fire-shaping assisted tale of their vanquishing of the rat-demons.

The household-shrine to Kwan Yin, goddess of compassion and community, is brought down from Auntie Ma's house and an offering is made along with prayers for a good harvest, for future safety, and for the good fortune and happiness of the group.

All Things Under Heaven

(I've been posting play reports from my current campaign for a month now and have only just realised that I never actually introduced it properly. So, here is a little bit about All Things Under Heaven.)

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All Things Under Heaven is a re-imagining of my previous Wild Seas Under Heaven setting, keeping much of the work I'd done but re-imagining the basis of the campaign. It is a 5th Edition D&D campaign in the sandbox and hexcrawl tradition, heavily inspired by the example of Ben Robbins' Grand Experiment and Stephen Lumpkin's West Marches.

It is inspired by the legendary history of China presented in the Bamboo Annals, classic works of Chinese literature like Journey to the West, the fantastic series of novels The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox by Barry Hughart, wuxia films that include Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, anime films that include Princess Mononoke and Sword of the Stranger, and Adam Koebel's Court of Swords campaign for RollPlay.  

All Things Under Heaven runs weekly, and play reports should be up about that often. Significant hacking of 5E D&D has gone into it, both on the broader rules level and also in terms of unique Archetypes, Feats, etc. Much of that will probably make its way here over time.

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The World

Tianxia is an enormous island, centremost of all the lands under Heaven, which was shaped by the Dragon-Emperors in a time long since forgotten from clay dragged up from the seabed. It is a rugged land of extremes, with high mountains and plateaus giving way to sweeping valleys and rolling grasslands. Rivers abound, with their original courses often said to have been cut into the land by the tail of the dragon-god Yu the Great.

The time of the Dragon-Emperors is long gone, with the Great Emperor of Jade having ruled over Tianxia for ten thousand years.  The serpent-aspected humanoids that once inhabited the continent have all gone extinct, interbred, or retreated to the wilderness. The central plains and rivers, heartland of the Empire, are now a land ruled and tamed by human beings.

But the margins and the wilderness are not so tame. Separated from the fertile basin of the heartland by the towering Yinmi Peaks and accessible only by the wide and fast-running Lièkǒu River, the north-western frontier of civilisation beckons. 

The Town

Iron Springs is a moderately-sized town at the north-western frontier of civilized Tianxia, looking out over a region that many call only The Wastes. The town is built on the broad banks of the Lièkǒu River, the only lifeline that it has back to the Imperial world of bureaucracy and well-tended order, and is supported by terrace-farms cut into the surrounding hill country. It is home to around a thousand souls, making it the largest inhabited center in the surrounding lands.

From Iron Springs a rich tapestry of terrain stretches out towards the sunset: vast and trackless forests, stinking marshes, windswept plains, rugged hills and towering mountains where the workshops of the old Zhang witch-alchemists may still stand. These Wastes are wild, untamed, dangerous, and haunted by beasts and spirits and yet stranger things.

Iron Springs’ extreme remoteness and the wild and untamed nature of The Wastes have contributed to its reputation as a place of last resort, somewhere that only the greedy, the foolish, or the desperate would try and make a life. Those who chafe at the yoke of Imperial authority find the distance from any real governance appealing, while scholars and seekers after the weird and macabre find it a valuable source of information and research subjects. 

The Wastes beyond Iron Springs are the stuff of many a legend, promising all those things that are best in life: wealth beyond measure, endless opportunity, danger to be faced, glory to be won, secrets and wonders to behold and uncover, and a means to transform your life. Tame the Wastes, the buzz in the Capitol goes, and a noble title will be yours along with deeds to whatever manage to win from the trackless wilderness. 

The Characters

Rule Zero: You are an adventurer because you feel a strong call in your bones to action. The boredom of a calm life doesn't appeal to you – you are driven to leave behind the safety of civilization and explore the wilds: to make your name, to make your fortune, to accomplish some passion or goal. Regardless of what drives you, you are driven. You choose where to go and what to do. There will be a handful of obvious choices, but you don't by any means need to take them. The adventure is in your hands... (From the Player Document)

All Things Under Heaven, Session #4

Our Setting: Iron Springs is a moderately-sized town at the north-western frontier of civilized Tianxia, looking out over a region that many call only The Wastes. The town is built on the broad banks of the Lièkǒu River, the only lifeline that it has back to the Imperial world of bureaucracy and well-tended order, and is supported by terrace-farms cut into the surrounding hill country. It is home to around a thousand souls, making it the largest inhabited center in the surrounding lands.

From Iron Springs a rich tapestry of terrain stretches out towards the sunset: vast and trackless forests, stinking marshes, windswept plains, rugged hills and towering mountains where the workshops of the old Zhang witch-alchemists may still stand. These Wastes are wild, untamed, dangerous, and haunted by beasts and spirits and yet stranger things.

Iron Springs’ extreme remoteness and the wild and untamed nature of The Wastes have contributed to its reputation as a place of last resort, somewhere that only the greedy, the foolish, or the desperate would try and make a life. Those who chafe at the yoke of Imperial authority find the distance from any real governance appealing, while scholars and seekers after the weird and macabre find it a valuable source of information and research subjects.

The Wastes beyond Iron Springs are the stuff of many a legend, promising all those things that are best in life: wealth beyond measure, endless opportunity, danger to be faced, glory to be won, secrets and wonders to behold and uncover, and a means to transform your life. Tame the Wastes, the buzz in the teahouse goes, and the Emperor has promised that a noble title will be yours along with deeds to whatever you manage to wrest from the trackless wilderness.

Our Cast:

• Mei-Xiu, a human Monk. Given away as a child to a warlord, one of the Rén catfolk. She was raised as an assassin, and now wanders the Wastes to challenge the strong. 
• Ming-Hua, a Wizard (School of Evocation). One of the Guàn birdfolk, from the Tribe of the Ibis. She tired of reading about the arcane in dusty libraries, and now wanders the Wastes to study the weird. 
• Sun Thuy, a Rogue (Swashbuckler). One of the Rén catfolk from the Tribe of the Fox. She was heir to a noble family back in her homeland, and now wanders the Wastes to protect the weak. 
• Xiang Wang, a Druid (Circle of the Five Elements). One of the Guàn birdfolk, from the Tribe of the Heron. They were a roamer and a vagabond already, and now wander the Wastes to seek the path. 

The Session 

Day Ten: The group set off not too long after sunrise, travelling hard and pushing to make it back to Iron Springs without spending another night in the wilds. Around mid-morning they spot a dire horse drinking from a natural spring around a quarter-mile away and are sorely tempted to investigate. Some subtle signs that something is amiss and their desire for a soft bed and a hot meal win out, however, and so they travel on.

They push themselves nearly to the breaking point, marching onwards into the evening and past the point of exhaustion before making it back to the safety of town. Re-entering Iron Springs and finding their way to Broken Spear's teahouse, they collapse onto some old bedrolls in an empty corner of the common-room only an hour or two short of midnight and sleep like the dead.

In Town: The group spend the morning trying to find buyers for various objects they acquired and determine how much they earned. A fist-sized piece of chalcedony is sold to the town apothecary, who also identifies a mysterious powder found in the Tomb of the Nameless Hero as 'leech dust': a powder that cleans wounds and draws out poison. A bolt of exquisite black silk is sold to the town tailor for barely half of what it might have fetched in the Imperial Capital, earning his friendship.

The town broker, who controls the trade of goods back up the river to civilisation, pays upfront for a set of vases he is confident will fetch a good price and provides an advance on a finely-made wooden fan.

The group pay Broken Spear in advance for the night's accommodation and re-outfit themselves. Mei-Xiu trades in her fan for a spear, while Sun acquires a quarterstaff. Xiang confronts the captain of the town guard, Bitter Plum, over her failure to warn the group about the demons on the Āoxiàn Plains.

An argument ensues, during which Xiang learns that the area may hold a gateway to the Eight Hells but burns diplomatic bridges with the town guard. Ming-Hua connects this with the slow drift of chi into a nearby hollow she observed at the Tomb of the Nameless Hero.

The group consider where to go over a hot meal at Broken Spear's teahouse, contemplating a return to the tomb before deciding to go and help the farmers to the north-east with the rat-demon attacks and thefts.

Day One: The group set out slowly to the north-east through the farmland around Iron Springs, searching for a leader in the farming community who could tell them more about the situation. They are directed to the wizened Auntie Ma, whose stilt-raised farmhouse they find around sunset.

Auntie Ma thoroughly charms the group, shares some anecdotes about her past romantic exploits with members of the Ren catfolk and her possible adventuring career, and passes on what little information she has about the rat-demons before giving the group hospitality for the evening.

Day Two: The group pause on the edge of the hilly farmland, Xiang taking advantage of the elevation to perform a ritual to see into the spirit world and examine what lies immediately ahead. They detect several extraordinarily powerful presences in the Nírón Fens: a fading Celestial-feeling presence aligned with birds in the far north of the Fens; an enormous beast swimming through Lake Bōdòng along with a chi-misted island; and a stark brilliant presence gleaming from the mountains beyond the lake that takes notice of them and stares back.

The day's travel then takes the group down out of the hills, between the broad river that passes through Iron Springs and the smaller stream they crossed to the north between hills and plains. Between the two water-courses runs a stretch of flooded coniferous forest, where the group make good progress through the day before making a comfortable camp by lashing a platform of lodge to several forked trees just above the waterline.

Day Three: The group continue to press on, moving slowly and with eyes peeled due to their uncertainty where the rat-demons make their lair. Around mid-afternoon they come to a point where the river widens into a pool and encounter a handful of enormous crabs, each body the size of a prone human torso. The crustaceans are rapidly disposed of, though Xiang does take several nasty bruises to the shins and knees from the crabs' wicked claws.

Pressing on a little longer carrying the meat of the largest crab, the group make another camp above the waterline and enjoy a delicious cooked meal before slowly drifting off to sleep amidst the buzzing of midges and croaking of distant frogs.

Day Four: The group set off again, growing wary as the conifers grow fewer and more gnarled and the landscape gives way from flooded forest to muddy, dreary swampland. They continue to travel slowly and cautiously, looking out for any sign of danger, but find sage passage as they move into the edge of the Nírón Fens.

They find a half-subsided hummock of earth that rises above the water but offers some shelter from prying eyes to spend the night, setting up a magical ward to alert them of intruders and appointing Ming-Hua's owl familiar to watch over them as they sleep.

Day Five: On waking, Ming-Hua and Xiang combine their magical knowledge and rituals of revelation to detect that the soil nearby was saturated with gold-flecked 'clots' of crimson chi, suggesting that the rat-demons lair must be nearby. Ming-Hua also perceived the same awesome blinding presence shining from the mountains beyond Lake Bōdòng that Xiang had encountered days before, and like Xiang before her was perceived in turn.

Hearing that the rat-demons must be nearby, Sun and Mei-Xiu seek the highest ground of the hummock and spot a broad squat hillock bare miles away to the north-east, with a yawning black pit in the side where the earth seems to have collapsed inwards and into which a dark shape furtively scurries...

All Things Under Heaven, Session #3

Our Setting: Iron Springs is a moderately-sized town at the north-western frontier of civilized Tianxia, looking out over a region that many call only The Wastes. The town is built on the broad banks of the Lièkǒu River, the only lifeline that it has back to the Imperial world of bureaucracy and well-tended order, and is supported by terrace-farms cut into the surrounding hill country. It is home to around a thousand souls, making it the largest inhabited center in the surrounding lands.

From Iron Springs a rich tapestry of terrain stretches out towards the sunset: vast and trackless forests, stinking marshes, windswept plains, rugged hills and towering mountains where the workshops of the old Zhang witch-alchemists may still stand. These Wastes are wild, untamed, dangerous, and haunted by beasts and spirits and yet stranger things.

Iron Springs’ extreme remoteness and the wild and untamed nature of The Wastes have contributed to its reputation as a place of last resort, somewhere that only the greedy, the foolish, or the desperate would try and make a life. Those who chafe at the yoke of Imperial authority find the distance from any real governance appealing, while scholars and seekers after the weird and macabre find it a valuable source of information and research subjects.

The Wastes beyond Iron Springs are the stuff of many a legend, promising all those things that are best in life: wealth beyond measure, endless opportunity, danger to be faced, glory to be won, secrets and wonders to behold and uncover, and a means to transform your life. Tame the Wastes, the buzz in the teahouse goes, and the Emperor has promised that a noble title will be yours along with deeds to whatever you manage to wrest from the trackless wilderness.

Our Cast:

• Mei-Xiu, a human Monk. Given away as a child to a warlord, one of the Rén catfolk. She was raised as an assassin, and now wanders the Wastes to challenge the strong.
• Ming-Hua, a Wizard (School of Evocation). One of the Guàn birdfolk, from the Tribe of the Ibis. She tired of reading about the arcane in dusty libraries, and now wanders the Wastes to study the weird.
• Shi, a Fighter. One of the Rén catfolk from the Tribe of the Leopard. He was a criminal back in the civilised world, and now wanders the Wastes to encounter the strange.
• Sun Thuy, a Rogue. One of the Rén catfolk from the Tribe of the Fox. She was heir to a noble family back in her homeland, and now wanders the Wastes to protect the weak.
• Xiang Wang, a Druid (Circle of the Five Elements). One of the Guàn birdfolk, from the Tribe of the Heron. They were a roamer and a vagabond already, and now wander the Wastes to seek the path.

The Session

Day Seven: The group press onward, deeper into the Tomb of the Nameless Hero into another rectangular chamber. A dusty rolled scroll lies in one corner of the room, while a pair of large chests covered in sacks of treasure sit along one wall. This mural depicts another battle, with a small army bearing the sigil from the last mural being surrounded and cut down by a larger army in a valley. In the central foreground stands a gravely-wounded figure from the losing army faces off against four enemy soldiers.

Wary after the last chamber, the group prepare their weapons as Xiang performs the same ritual to see into the spirit world that was aborted last time. The ritual is successful and reveals the chamber to be empty of magic except for the mural, which Mei-Xiu throws a dart at. She aims at the painted soldiers confronting the several figures, assuming them to be the true threat, but realises her mistake as the central figure comes to life.

Suffering emerges from the wall, sculpted with grievous wounds and dripping blood included in its glazing. Shi, Ming-Hua, and Xiang hang back and attack from a distance with arrows and throw balls of flame, while Mei-Xiu and Sun charge into close quarters.

Suffering draws a cat o' nine tails from its side and brutally lashes Mei-Xiu into unconsciousness before grabbing Sun and forcing her to look into its ruined eyes. She psychically experiences every moment of pain the group has inflicted on it before reeling backwards, weeping blood.

Xiang heals Mei-Xiu as the group continues their assault. Now crumbling and moving like a physical wreck, Suffering whips Sun into unconsciousness before forcing Ming-Hua to stare into its eyes and sharing its pain until her mind retreated into unconsciousness.

The resurgent Mei-Xiu charges forward and inflicts the killing blow on Suffering, causing the mural to shatter just as the last did. Shi applies his healer's kit and manages to make Ming-Hua comfortable as they wait for her to recover, while Xiang heals Sun and brings her back to consciousness.

The group pull back to the first chamber and a spirited debate ensues over their options: push ahead now, rest again before pushing onward, or leave and sell what they have gained and returned later. Mei-Xiu and Ming-Hua champion pushing on, and after an hour's rest the group advance into the doorway of the third chamber.

Seeing the empty black mural on the side of the wall and the weight with which time hangs upon the chamber, they conclude that it corresponds to Death and make the call to pull back and leave. They gather up the treasure from the Suffering chamber: a pile of ancient silver coins, a bolt of exquisite black silk, a finely-painted wooden fan, and a painted poetic scroll that indirectly describes an ancient school of swordsmanship.

Xiang uses their elemental attunement to earth to pile earth into the tomb's entrance and seal it. The group travel make use of the afternoon to begin their journey back to town before finding the best camp they can (the lee of a subsided hill where their fire will be less evident) and making camp. The night passes quietly.

Day Eight: The group set off early the next day and set out with speed their main goal, making excellent time and making it nearly halfway back to town during the day's march. Setting up their camp in the late afternoon to take advantage of the light, the group are eating their evening meal when they spot an approaching figure that Ming-Hua identifies as a demon.

Mei-Xiu and Ming-Hua attempt to negotiate, but a poor choice of words (describing the Fallen Celestial using the Heavenly referent, 'failed Celestial') escalates the encounter. The demon, bull-headed and leopard-skinned, flares the campfire and blinds much of the party before wading into combat.

It strikes with terrifying force using only its bare hands and exercises preternatural powers of control over the fire and its embers to scorch and burn members of the group while staying largely unharmed itself.

The group defend themselves but are on the backfoot from the beginning, dragging unconscious allies out of harm's way while attempting to make a retreat. Mei-Xiu is revived (yet again) by Xiang after being dragged to safety by a summoned panther-spirit, while Sun drags Ming-Hua away and pours a potion of healing down her throat.

It settles into their campfire and consumes the heat in a flaring pillar of flames to fuel its strength and the group flees.

They spend an hour putting distance between themselves and the Fallen Celestial before slowing to a stealthy and cautious crawl, trading distance for safety. They go to ground to make camp, spending an uncomfortable night concealed among a stand of high wispy grass.

Day Nine: The group spend the day moving at a crawl, travelling with the utmost care as they extract themselves from the vicinity of the Fallen Celestial. They make less distance than they could have in a few hours pushing at full speed, but have no unwelcome encounters during the day of cautious journeying.

Alternate 5E D&D Fighter

I have a long-standing dissatisfaction with the way that the Fighter has been handled in D&D. 5E has done slightly better in this regard, but the Fighter remains bland and boring, as well as underpowered. The most promising aspect of the 5E execution is the Combat Superiority mechanic, which was originally a core part of the class in the D&D Next playtesting but got shifted into the Battlemaster archetype. 

The following represents the best attempt of myself and the players from my All Things Under Heaven campaign to create a more tactically-interesting, evocative, and balanced interpretation of the Fighter.

(Credit for inspiration and some mechanic ideas goes to the discussion in this thread).

Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d10 per fighter level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per fighter level after 1st.

Proficiencies
Armour : All armor, shields
Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Strength  and Dexterity OR Constitution
Skills: Choose two skills from Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, and Survival.

Equipment: You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) chain mail or (b) leather, longbow, and 20 arrows
• (a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons
• (a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) two handaxes
• (a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack

Fighting Style: You adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again. You choose an additional Fighting Style at 13^th level.

• Archery – You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.
• Defence – While you are wearing armour, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.
• Duelling – When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.
• Great Weapon Fighting – When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
• Protection – When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.
• Two-Weapon Fighting – When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack.

Tireless: If you are under half-health and not unconscious, you regain hit points equal to half your proficiency bonus (rounded up) at the start of your turn.

Combat Superiority: Beginning at 2nd level, you learn manoeuvres that are fuelled by special dice called superiority dice.
Manoeuvres. You learn three manoeuvres of your choice, which are detailed under “Manoeuvres” below. Many manoeuvres enhance an attack in some way. You can use only one manoeuvre per attack. You learn two additional manoeuvres of your choice at 7th, 10th, and 15th level. Each time you learn new manoeuvres, you can also replace one manoeuvre you know with a different one.
Superiority Dice. You have four superiority dice, which are d8s. A superiority die is expended when you use it. You regain all of your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest. You gain another superiority die at 7th level and one more at 15th level.
Saving Throws. Some of your manoeuvres require your target to make a saving throw to resist the manoeuvre’s effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows: Manoeuvre save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice)

Martial Archetype: At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you strive to emulate in your combat styles and techniques. Choose Champion or Mage Slayer, all detailed at the end o f the class description. The archetype you choose grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 10th, 15th, and 18th level.

(Details of the archetypes to follow in a future post)

Ability Score Improvement: When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Extra Attack: Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take an attack action on your turn. The number of attacks increases to three at 19th level.

Indomitable: Beginning at 6th level, once per long rest you can choose to reroll a saving throw that you fail with advantage and using Strength. You can use this feature one additional time between long rests beginning at 11^th and 16^th levels.

Heightened Defenses: Beginning at 8th level, you gain proficiency in whichever saving throw (Dexterity or Constitution) you didn't choose at 1st level.

Improved Combat Superiority: Beginning at 9th level, your superiority dice turn into d10s. At 18th level, they turn into d12s.

Parry: Beginning at 9^th level, you can spend a reaction to add your proficiency bonus to your AC against one melee attack that would otherwise hit you. You can use this ability a number of times equal to 1 + Con mod per long rest.

Improved First Fighting Style: Beginning at 11^th level, you advance further in your mastery of your first Fighting Style and gain the further benefits listed below:

• Archery – When there are no creatures in melee range with you and a creature attempts to enter your space, you may spend your reaction to take a ranged attack against them.
• Defence – While you are wearing armour, your bonus to AC increases to +2.
• Duelling – When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons and you roll a critical hit against an opponent, they are disarmed and their weapon flies 15ft away from them in a direction of your choice.
• Great-Weapon Fighting – Now, when you roll a 1, 2, or 3 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and take the higher of the two totals. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
• Protection – When a creature you can see hits a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to roll a number of d6 equal to your proficiency bonus and reduce the damage the target takes by the result. If this would reduce the incoming damage to 0, the target takes no damage.
• Two-Weapon Fighting – When you engage in two-weapon fighting and hit with your first attack, you gain advantage on the bonus attack.

Adrenaline Surge: Beginning at 14^th level, on your turn you can use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to 1d10 + your Constitution modifier + your fighter level. You may use this once per rest at no cost, but each use after this costs one level of Exhaustion.

Battlemaster: Beginning at 20th level, your expertise in combat becomes the stuff of legends.  You may double your proficiency bonus for any attack you make.  You may apply this feature after you roll, but not more than once per turn.

All Things Under Heaven, Session #2

Our Setting: Iron Springs is a moderately-sized town at the north-western frontier of civilized Tianxia, looking out over a region that many call only The Wastes. The town is built on the broad banks of the Lièkǒu River, the only lifeline that it has back to the Imperial world of bureaucracy and well-tended order, and is supported by terrace-farms cut into the surrounding hill country. It is home to around a thousand souls, making it the largest inhabited center in the surrounding lands.

From Iron Springs a rich tapestry of terrain stretches out towards the sunset: vast and trackless forests, stinking marshes, windswept plains, rugged hills and towering mountains where the workshops of the old Zhang witch-alchemists may still stand. These Wastes are wild, untamed, dangerous, and haunted by beasts and spirits and yet stranger things.

Iron Springs’ extreme remoteness and the wild and untamed nature of The Wastes have contributed to its reputation as a place of last resort, somewhere that only the greedy, the foolish, or the desperate would try and make a life. Those who chafe at the yoke of Imperial authority find the distance from any real governance appealing, while scholars and seekers after the weird and macabre find it a valuable source of information and research subjects. 

The Wastes beyond Iron Springs are the stuff of many a legend, promising all those things that are best in life: wealth beyond measure, endless opportunity, danger to be faced, glory to be won, secrets and wonders to behold and uncover, and a means to transform your life. Tame the Wastes, the buzz in the teahouse goes, and the Emperor has promised that a noble title will be yours along with deeds to whatever you manage to wrest from the trackless wilderness. 

Our Cast:

• Mei-Xiu, a human Monk. Given away as a child to a warlord, one of the Rén catfolk. She was raised as an assassin, and now wanders the Wastes to challenge the strong.
• Ming-Hua, a Wizard. One of the Guàn birdfolk, from the Tribe of the Ibis. She tired of reading about the arcane in dusty libraries, and now wanders the Wastes to study the weird.
• Shi, a Fighter. One of the Rén catfolk from the Tribe of the Leopard. He was a criminal back in the civilised world, and now wanders the Wastes to encounter the strange.
• Sun Thuy, a Rogue. One of the Rén catfolk from the Tribe of the Fox. She was heir to a noble family back in her homeland, and now wanders the Wastes to protect the weak. 
• Xiang Wang, a Druid. One of the Guàn birdfolk, from the Tribe of the Heron. They were a roamer and a vagabond already, and now wander the Wastes to seek the path. 

The Session

Day Five: The group settle back into sleep after their early-morning encounter with the rat-demons, sleeping in to try to make up for being woken in the middle of the night. Shi and Sun Thuy, the Rén catfolk, slumber through the morning into mid-afternoon in the pale winter sunshine, while Xiang Wang, Ming-Hua, and Mei-Xiu wake mid-morning and go out to examine the corpses of their foes. 

They find that the degradation of the night before has only continued: all that is left is sticky black marsh-mud, rotten reeds, and green gnarled wood arranged in rough semblances of skeletons. Ming-Hua performs a ritual to allow her to visualise the flow of chi and identifies a fading dark brown-black energy that clings to the rat-demons as aligned to swampy marshy places and animals, but concludes that the creatures were spirits animating matter rather than actual living beings. She also identifies 'clots' of crimson energy flecked with gold running through the residue, a well-recorded sign of demonic corruption. 

Stranger yet, she spots wisps of the decaying auras being carried in an unseen breeze over the river to the north-west towards a low long hill. She shares these findings with her companions, and then with the Rén catfolk when they finally stir from their naps. The group press onwards, carefully crossing the river and following the direction the chi was going until they arrive at the hill not too long after sunset.

Sun Thuy's keen eyes catch the gleam of firelight off an exposed piece of elegant white stonework, and drawing on her knowledge of the architecture of the Nine Kingdoms period (when the Tomb of the Nameless Hero was built) she locates the entrance. Some digging later and the broad stone-lined tunnel that leads down to the door is revealed.

Meanwhile Ming-Hua climbs to the top of the hill and repeats her ritual, confirming that wisps of chi are indeed flowing inside the tomb and also spotting a slow 'downhill' drift in the currents of chi all around into some nadir or well off the south. 

The party make camp, taking advantage of the tunnel's shelter to light a merry fire and spend a warm and relatively comfortable night. Nothing disturbs their slumber.

Day Six: The group awake in the middle hours of the morning, and Shi and Sun Thuy manage to batter down the slab of stone that sealed the tunnel and obtain entrance. Lighting torches and travelling for a minute or so, they come across a rectangular chamber with starkly-painted terracotta vases in one corners and a number of small chests in another. 

On the wall opposite the entrance a great mural is painted. It depicts a battle outside a burning city, with a despairing weeping figure in the foreground on their knees with the sigil of the city on their robes. The group split up to investigate the room, tentative observation of the vases and chests beginning and Xiang Wang beginning to perform a ritual to see into the spirit world as Mei-Xiu and Ming-Hua go over to examine the mural. 

Mei-Xiu realises the central figure is sculpted to stand out slightly from the wall as its eyes snap open and the terracotta guardian emerges from the wall. It fells Mei-Xiu in a single blow and proceeds to occupy the entire group's attention before it closes a hand around Sun Thuy's face. She sees the room fall away and finds herself back in her home, liege-lord to her people, watching helplessly as her protection fails them and everything they have and love is destroyed.

Ming-Hua realises what the creature is: a breed of sentinel construct popular during the Nine Kingdoms period. Its kin were usually featureless, however, and she puzzles for a moment over the identity it has been sculpted and painted with before she and Mei-Xiu - recovering from the vision - realise the answer. 

It is Failure, a reference to the five Deadly Fates (Suffering, Death, Failure, Shame, and Insignificance) that gave their namesake to demon-lords who toyed with the lives of warriors. It was customary for great warriors in the time of the tomb's making to have monuments built to those of the Fates they had conquered, and in the case of the Nameless Hero the monuments had been turned into guardians to protect against grave-robbers for millennia to come. 

 The group consider retreat as Sun Thuy drags the unconscious Mei-Xiu to safety and the monk is revived by magically-wholesome healing fruit by Xiang Wang. But Mei-Xiu seeks to challenge the strong, and charges back in to engage with Failure before it seizes her and inflicts a vision where she is forced to watch, helpless and hopeless, as her warlord-mentor is slain and tortured. 

The reminder of her very real failure drives Mei-Xiu to rage, stripping away her grace and technique as she hammers into Failure with brutal savage strikes in a style learned from the warlord. The group rally around her and keep the creature distracted and off-balance while Ming-Hua provides ranged support with a crackling arc of electric energy. 

Two lasts blows and a shout of defiance from Mei-Xiu shatter Failure's leg and remove its head, at which point the entire mural crumbles and is destroyed. 

The terracotta guardian is no more, and the group waste no time searching the chests for anything of value (a single uncut fist-sized gem) and packing up the small vases to take with them, before making camp in the chamber and warding the entrance that leads further into the tomb to warn them of any approaching danger. And then, they sleep...

All Things Under Heaven, Session #1

Our Setting: Iron Springs is a moderately-sized town at the north-western frontier of civilized Tianxia, looking out over a region that many call only The Wastes. The town is built on the broad banks of the Lièkǒu River, the only lifeline that it has back to the Imperial world of bureaucracy and well-tended order, and is supported by terrace-farms cut into the surrounding hill country. It is home to around a thousand souls, making it the largest inhabited center in the surrounding lands.

From Iron Springs a rich tapestry of terrain stretches out towards the sunset: vast and trackless forests, stinking marshes, windswept plains, rugged hills and towering mountains where the workshops of the old Zhang witch-alchemists may still stand. These Wastes are wild, untamed, dangerous, and haunted by beasts and spirits and yet stranger things.

Iron Springs’ extreme remoteness and the wild and untamed nature of The Wastes have contributed to its reputation as a place of last resort, somewhere that only the greedy, the foolish, or the desperate would try and make a life. Those who chafe at the yoke of Imperial authority find the distance from any real governance appealing, while scholars and seekers after the weird and macabre find it a valuable source of information and research subjects. 

The Wastes beyond Iron Springs are the stuff of many a legend, promising all those things that are best in life: wealth beyond measure, endless opportunity, danger to be faced, glory to be won, secrets and wonders to behold and uncover, and a means to transform your life. Tame the Wastes, the buzz in the teahouse goes, and the Emperor has promised that a noble title will be yours along with deeds to whatever you manage to wrest from the trackless wilderness. 

Our Cast:

• Mei-Xiu, a human Monk. Given away as a child to a warlord, one of the Rén catfolk. She was raised as an assassin, and now wanders the Wastes to challenge the strong.
• Ming-Hua, a Wizard. One of the Guàn birdfolk, from the Tribe of the Ibis. She tired of reading about the arcane in dusty libraries, and now wanders the Wastes to study the weird.
• Shi, a Fighter. One of the Rén catfolk from the Tribe of the Leopard. He was a criminal back in the civilised world, and now wanders the Wastes to encounter the strange.
• Sun Thuy, a Rogue. One of the Rén catfolk from the Tribe of the Fox. She was heir to a noble family back in her homeland, and now wanders the Wastes to protect the weak. 
• Xiang Wang, a Druid. One of the Guàn birdfolk, from the Tribe of the Heron. They were a roamer and a vagabond already, and now wander the Wastes to seek the path. 

The Session

The group gather around a table in the corner of Iron Spring's second teahouse, a worn and comfortable establishment with some rougher edges run by an ex-adventurer called Broken Spear. Some nights before, sat around this very table, they had clumsily spilled a teapot and watched as the near-boiling water raised decades of grime to reveal a crude map of the Wastes carved into the wood, an unknowing gift from some past adventurer. 

Pooling the rumours they have recently heard around town, the group are tempted momentarily by tales of the legendary internal-alchemist Xianbal but decide instead to pursue whispers of a tomb out on the Āoxiàn Plains. Cunningly hidden by its architects and lost for centuries, the tomb is said to hold a forgotten hero from days long past and the enchanted sword that he bore. 

Gathering their resources and failing to convince the captain of the town guard to give them any advice other than "don't get killed", the group set off from the town due north-north-west. 

Day One: Travelling at a slow pace (this being their first venture out into the Wastes) the group move through the foothills around Iron Springs, making good time and reaching the river that divides the foothills from the flatlands beyond by early evening. Making camp in a sheltered crack in the last of the hills, they settle in for the night with Ming-Hua's owl familiar keeping watch.

Ming-Hua is woken by her familiar some time around midnight. She douses the fire, wakes the group, and they all watch in horrified fascination as six shrouded figures come into sight following the river and settle down by the river. Familiars are used to investigate and reveal that the creatures are horse-spirits robed and veiled in human-hair cloth, and the group decide not to engage. The horse-spirits unpack miniature looms and settle in to work for a long hour with an eerie clicking and clacking of shuttle and bobbin before slowly moving on. The party return to sleep.

Day Two: While crossing the river, Mei-Xiu's elegant slippers cause her to badly twist her ankle on a loose rock and she goes under for a moment. Weighed down by her water-logged silk robes, she is rescued by Xiang Wang and the rest of the group. Shi is able to fashion a splint with his healer's kit, and the group resumes their journey. 

The group move out onto vast flat grasslands, dry and broken only by spikes of wispy flat-seed, and continue their careful progress. Come nightfall, they find an area where the grass has been trodden down by the wild horses native to the Āoxiàn Plains that means they are safe from ambush and make camp. Despite the chill of early winter they cannot risk a fire, knowing that it would be seen for miles around. 

Day Three: Xiang Wang and Shi, who suffered worse from the fireless sleep, wake the next morning little rested and feeling miserable. The group pick up their pace as they head off again, the landscape changing around them as dry grassland gives way to lusher floodlands fed by streams and rivers from the north-east. 

By nightfall they are fully into greener grassier country, but fail to find a natural camp-site. They are forced to make do, and after the troubles of the night before decide to light a small discreet campfire. The night is even harsher than the last, however, and it is only through the hardier members of the group sacrificing cloaks and blankets that hypothermia is warded off.

Day Four: Turning from their north-north-west heading to go due west, the group push themselves for a gruelling twelve-hour march and by nightfall reach the heartland of the Āoxiàn Plains proper. Having learned their lesson, they make camp by one of the larger streams that run through the area and feed the lush grasses and light a proper campfire. 

Around halfway through the night they are woken again by Ming-Hua's familiar with a report of eight dark shapes moving towards them from the river. Most of the group huddle around the fire defensively, as Mei-Xiu slips away into the darkness to prepare a flanking maneuver. Archery from Shi and bolts of magefire from Ming-Hua manage to bring down one of the creatures as they advance, while Mei-Xiu spots three of them detaching from the main group to deal with her.

As the creatures close into the firelight their nature is revealed: filthy mud-smeared rat-demons, wielding stolen farming tools and broken pieces of metal wrapped and adapted into wicked blades. The battle with the rat-demons is hard fought, and Ming-Hua is knocked unconscious as one slips through her guard after shooting a blazing cone of magefire. 

But through a combination of archery, martial prowess, devastating blows from surprise by Sun Thuy, clever spellwork, and cooperation the rat-demons are overcome, and Xiang Wang is able to revive Ming-Hua. The bodies of the foul creatures slough away into sticky black mud and rotten reeds as the group return to sleep and the owl-familiar resumes its watch. 

And as the group slumber around their fire, a gleam of the waxing crescent moon glints off exposed white stonework on the far side of the river, not too far away...