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

[Simon Stainsby]

Thanks for the update,

Glad to see Lev mining the "she-demon attempts to steal Tripikaka's manly
essence" trope from Journey to the West.

S



On Thu., 27 Sep. 2018, 8:23 pm Lev Lafayette, <lev at rpgreview.net> wrote:

> ==================================================
> Story Two: Episode Two : Troubles in Wa'an village
> ==================================================
>
> Scene One: Journey to the Village
> ---------------------------------
>
> 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
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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