Leaving Nouchi

A cinematic one-off campaign in Nouchi following some previous epic characters.

Characters

• Esme Harrington, Cormirian archeologist played by Mel
• Vasker Raiden, Imperial Captain played by John
• Shier Pyreblade, Leonin prisoner played by Niki
• Pong Bing, Imperial dungeon guard played by Traci

Setup

Esme
Having gathered your stashed loot and sketching some pictures of the Orochi who watched you from the treetops as you passed through the Dulso forest, you return to Eigyou through Ramiin. Along the way, you gathered what knowledge you could about the Empire and the ruler Kijin Tono and the people of the land of Nouchi. You have sent letters back to your associates in Cormire detailing some of your journey and providing sketches and teasers to your upcoming article. While writing your article and staying in Eigyou trying to find passage back to the northern continent without having to pass through the Imperial security involving uncomfortable luggage checks and strip searches, you encounter Vasker on the piers of Eigyou. You were just trying to get a vessel to take you north without stopping in Shuto for imperial search and seizure.

Vasker
You are about to venture back into Shuto because a couple of weeks past you received distressing messages from Inarra. She again invaded your dreams and notified you that Imperial investigators were interrogating the priestesses and she suspected that they knew of the Eye heist. She feared for her well-being and was notifying you mostly of her concern. Days later she again appeared to you in your dreams. She was crying tears of blood in this dream. She mentioned that she had seen the future for her and it was short and painful in the tunnels beneath the imperial palace. She told you they had started taking priestesses away. In this brief vision she plead for you to return and liberate her, taking her far away from the service to the temple of the Spider and the Empire. You awoke and after some short words with the further transforming Yang, you left him and his colossus unescorted at the edge of the forest north of Teardrop lake. You rode with urgency eastward, hoping that Inarra would again visit your troubled slumber each short night.
You have just encountered Esme on the piers of Eigyou as you search for your merchant contact, Akbar.

Shier
You were sent but a handful of days past. You and your Wind-rider soared through the clouds of the empire to view a small fortress full of hairless human males in brown robes before soaring further north to where the clouds grew thicker and small bands of dark-armoured soldiers grew more prevalent. Sensing a great hub of magical power along the north-east coast, you began to migrate there. Late one night, as you were about to bed down, something aroused your senses just before a thick fog enshrouded your camp. You heard your wind-rider take flight just before three men approached you through the fog. Ah, a greeting party, finally. You tried to reason with them in their difficult tongue, taught to you hastily by the Atum before you left, but they seemed to have no interest in words. Their magic and blades were swift to respond to your questions and pleas for a peaceful reunion of your races. Fearful fools, you though. Within moments you realized you had no choice but to fight back or likely die. Sadly, you did not realize the frailty of humans and you killed one of the dark armored warriors and injured the gray robed man before you were overtaken. Regrettable. An attack will do no good to bring the Leonin back to the surface below, and a murder will not make us welcome.

Over what you guess are the last few days, you have awoken to a drugged stupor as humans have been poking, prodding and experimenting on you. At first they only brought you dead raw meat. No honor in an unclaimed kill. When you would not eat the meat, they began bringing you fruits and vegetables, mostly palatable. The last two meals you've been served were cooked meat and vegetables in a spicy sauce over some small white grain. No worthy utensils were given, but they did give you some mediocre tooth-picks. Mostly, you've been alone in a dark cell and haven't had the opportunity to talk to anyone. Any time such an opportunity arises, they shoot you with small darts, cowards which make you nearly unconscious and incapable of anything but slurred babblings, then muzzle you and cart you off through dark tunnels to work their dark science and magics upon you.
Pong Bing

You have recently been given the task of escorting lovely Spider Priestesses from their dark dungeon cells to the interrogation/torture chambers. It is decreed that guards in your position are not to speak to prisoners. This has always been very difficult for you because you love meeting new people and learning about them, especially if they are different. The priestesses have been a bit difficult for you because you have heard they wield powerful magics and that they are powerful witches capable of bringing about your worst nightmares. Being so close to the subject of these rumors scares you. Badly. So, you haven't had too much trouble holding your tongue with them until the most recent of them.

As you were unlocking her cell two days ago she mentioned quietly to you that you'd best steel yourself for a great adventure.
That has vexed you since. Was she conjuring up some mischief? Should you tell your superiors? Perhaps you will ask Pei Pei what he thinks when you next run into him.
This morning when escorting the same woman from the interrogation chamber, she bled from her eye-sockets...not an uncommon experience, but for whatever reason you felt great pity for her. You had to say something just before closing her cell door. All you could muster was a bumbling inquiry...I'm sorry for your sight, but what of adventure? She replied simply in between sobs, Find Vasker.