The Jade Regent's Rise to Power

One evening before leaving the fortress of Seinaru Heikiko, the party was gathered in front of the fireplace, sipping sake. Hatsue was describing some of the horrors that were being inflicted on the people of Minkai in the name of the Jade Regent. Ameiko suddenly slammed her cup down on the table. "How did this monster ever ascend to the throne in the first place?" All eyes turned to Hirabashi Jiro, who stared into the fire for a long moment before he spoke.

The Birth of a Rebellion

Sandoval wasn’t sure what was going on, but Bella had just dashed past him with a look of concern on her face. Not sure if she was running away or towards, he decided it might be a good idea to follow. He opened the door and stepped out into the fortress’s courtyard. Ahead of him, Bella was sprinting away, drawing her blades as she ran, and he could see Shinjiro running down the far side of the open space. Looking ahead to where their paths would converge, he saw a pair of huge wooden figures, like animated trees, swinging at Marie, who circled in the air above them. He wasn’t sure what had alerted Bella and Shinjiro to her plight, but he didn’t waste time wondering – he just started running. As he ran, he cast a Slow spell on the pair of figures, but it seemed to have no effect. Zhustin suddenly appeared in the courtyard, having used his Dimensional Step, to hurry himself along. Nicki burst out of one of the buildings, and fired off a quick set of Magic Missiles, but the magical bursts seemed to have no effect either. Ahead of Shinjiro, Sandoval saw two more seemingly innocuous woodpiles begin shuddering into animated life. He guessed that these were some kind of guardians that the bandits’ druid shaman had created to augment the fortress’s defenses.

Clearing the Fortress of Seinaru Heikiko

Sawyer stepped over a pair of dead bodies, and peeked into the room that the bandits had poured out of. There was a common room, with a kitchen area at the back. Another large alcove with a conference table and several chairs filled the far end of the room. Woven curtains could be drawn to close the kitchen and meeting room off from the rest, but they were pulled open. Six or eight Tian women cowered in the far corners of the room, trembling with fear. They were dressed like servants, but to Sawyer, all Tians looked the same, and as far as he could tell, these were indistinguishable from the other “servant” who had turned into a were-tiger a few minutes ago, and he was reluctant to risk being surrounded. Bella, standing beside him, nudged him aside. “Let me calm them down,” she said, and strode into the room. To her dismay, the women shrieked and shrank away; apparently her blood-spattered face and gore-dripping swords weren’t reassuring. Just then, Zhustin’s earth elemental rose up out of the floor, sent underground by his master to help in the combat that had just ended. The women screamed, and scuttled as far away as they could get.