Mu-Pan - Encounter IV/V

Two more for wondrous Mu-Pan. I have decided to use the Gods of Pegana as the Gods of Mu-Pan. Should be fun. One of those Pegana gods also shows up in Hexcrawl Classics #1.

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0232. A sect of lawful sohei dedicated to Kilooloogung, the Lord of Arising Smoke, has been established here in a deep valley rich in iron deposits. The mines are now worked by the lay brothers of the fortress monastery. The monastery is constructed of fired bricks. Each brick is stamped with a holy symbol and glazed red. A slow fire fed by fragrant herbs and woods is maintained at all times in the center of the monastery, the smoke escaping into the sky via three towering bronze chimneys made to look like dragons.

The abbot is called Jeneozen, a charming fanatic with dark yellow-brown skin and blue-gray eyes. Jeneozen is suffering under a curse that forces him to eat almost constantly, but still he loses weight. Once healthy and hale, he has become drawn and weak. The only cure for his condition, he believes, is a bitter, Y-shaped root from the Shadow Hills. Jeneozen commands ten lesser sohei.

Despite the dedication of the ten sohei of Kilooloogung to Law, the lay brothers of the monastery are a shifty lot - smugglers of dangerous narcotics from the high plateau of Tsanjan into the Celestial Hills. The lay brothers of the temple serve a hanu naga called Sebuthop of the Golden Scales (HD 6). She dwells in one of the abandoned iron mines, one that connects to a deep thermal vent, making it steamy and choked with fungal vines.

The monastery treasure horde consists of 19,300 sp, 730 gp.

| Sohei of Kilooloogong, Lvl 2: HP 2d6 [2d6+2]; AC 6 [13]; Save 13 (11 vs death & poisons); CL/XP 3/60; Special: Banish undead, spells (1st). Haramaki-do, sode, tetsubo (1d6), 3 darts, prayer beads.

| Jeneozen, Sohei Lvl 10: HP 8d6+2; AC 5 [14]; Save 5 (3 vs death & poisons); CL/XP 10/1400; Special: Banish undead, spells (5th). Haramaki-do (made of shark skin), sode, suneate, tetsubo (1d6), 3 darts, prayer beads.

0307. The mountains here are lightly forested with black alders. The slopes are home to thousands of locusts. A river of acid spills from a weird cave and down a series of waterfalls into a hole in the earth. Weathered granite pillars rise from the acid river at odd intervals. Above the cave from whence the river flows there is a small, shallow cave. Some ninjas of the Black Dragon Kingdom are trained here. The ninjas must leap from pillar to pillar, making their way up the river to the shallow cave to claim a random object. The object must be returned to the Black Dragon Chan within 3 months of the beginning of the test to pass. Those who fall into the river are either disintegrated by the acid or fall into the bowels of the earth. Those who fail to return to the Black Dragon Chan are hunted down and killed.

The cave and river are always watched by a dozen shadows, the souls of deceased ninja. Intruders into the gorge are attacked by these shadows at dusk or night, but not in the daytime. There is also a 1 in 6 chance that a band of 1d6 ninja are encountered in the gorge. If there is a single ninja, you can assume they are taking the test.

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Image from Stravag via DeviantArt.