[Exalted-China] Story Two: Episode Two : Troubles in Wa'an village

[Lev Lafayette]

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Story Two: Episode Two : Troubles in Wa'an village
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Scene One: Journey to the Village
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As Exalted left the lands of the Great Yue, now known as the Southern Han,
the hills and forests becamed less prounced and they gradually entered
into flatter and more arable land. Their first encounter was a tax
collector with covered cart, horse, and driver, who revealed himself as 
Li Yu'ang, an official of the Ma Chu court. The official expressed many
opinions of the desires of the people to have better roads, more guards,
less bandits, and better weather, but he found it curious that nobody
would want to pay for it. He was particularly perplexed by a nearby
village, Wa'an, which despite good land and rainfall had little to pay in
tax. The Exalted recognised this as the village in which they must reach.

Indeed it seemed to be so; arriving at the village at dusk the twenty or
so homes were quiet and a careful eye revealed that the rice paddies had
been poorly attended to. Further ahead there was a large house with bold
lights from the balcony. Like mosquitos to the light the Exalted ventured
to the large house only to be surprised by a naked man with a bloody face
howling and running into the woods. An attempt was made to follow him, but
his speed was like that of a madman, and the wood were deep. At the
juncture from which he had departed the remains of a rabbit was found; it
was deduced he had been eating it raw when disturbed.

Reaching the large house, it was discerned that this was the home of Wang
Wei and Ma Shu, the nephew of Prince Wang Shenzhi and Ma Shu, the daughter
of Ma Yin. Oh joyous occassion! The visiting Exalted were treated with
great respect, and Wang Wei was dressed in splendid court clothes,
although this was not necessary for such an occassion. As the Exalted were
attended to you by a young serving woman, Wang showed himself to have a
great fondness for the food provided, whereas Ma Shu was positively sultry
towards Hěn.

Scene Two: Noctural Admissions and Glorious Mornings
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Bedding down for the night the Exalted found themselves very sleepy after
such a long journey and delicious food. Shí, of all people, was the first
to fall asleep. During the night, Hěn had the strange dream than Ma Shu
had come to visit him and apply her womanly affections upon the priest.
Although there was no doubt of the degree of pleasure such attained, Hěn
felt as if he could fall under the spell of this woman, and came to his
senses, even in the dream. The following morning he found it more than
disconcerting that there was evidence of Ma Shu's visit in addition to his
own evidence. Further, over the breaking of fast, Ma Shu's disposition was
somewhat less convivial towards him.

Taking a trip into the viallage Qian noticed a shrine to Sennong [1], the
god of agriculture, which seems to have been disturbed and poorly attended
to. He took the opportunity, to the best of his ability, to put things
back in order or at least the order which seemed fit to him. Afterwards
the Exalted went to see the local peasants it seemed that whilst they were
doing their work, they did so without finesse or initiative. Talking to
them seemed to generate a similar result. But who can tell whether this
was due to an innate stupefication or something more?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shennong

Shí for story two, episode one = 3
Hěn for story two, episode one = 4
Qian for story two, episode one = 4
Xiǎo for story two, episode one = 0 (not present)


-- 
Lev Lafayette, BA (Hons), GradCertTerAdEd (Murdoch), GradCertPM, MBA (Tech
Mngmnt) (Chifley)
mobile:  0432 255 208
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