Send Dave to China

Dnd 4th Skyrock City Session 1

2008-11-01T08:01:00.001-07:00

Session 1 The City in Ruins

Set in Shattered Sky City, the ruins of a once great population centre, our Brave Heroes find themselves in The Dam; one of the two outposts of civilisation bordering the City, the other being The Docks. Within their Tavern of choice Aramil Bumps into an old acquaintance, Serallen, an Eladrin College Buddy who was last heard to have joined a Religious order (cult) and then disappeared.

“Hey Aramil is your sister here? Brilliant I was sent to find some adventurers and you have a load of erm... friends here, maybe you can help."
Anscar the human Barbarian looking chap speaks up at this "Listen Monstarr, these here monstars are my Army, we’re going to kill monstarrs and earn glory"
"Oh well I can take you to monsters" offers Serallen "ladies” he said offering his arm to Valanae, Ragron and Torment, who roll their eyes and decline his efforts.

Heading into the northern part of the ruins, our party is set upon by a bevy of unliving. Falling for the age old “Healer Cricket” trap of some dead, but freshly animated, adventurers lying on the road while their new master, a Wight and his flaming skeleton minions lurk nearby, the Heroes are set upon.

Successfully dispatching their foes and looting the dead adventurers of their magic Flaming Scimitar and healing potions our brave heroes continue on to the Headquarters of the Eladrin Cult of Naenaris (ahem Religious order).
What Serallen actually leads them to is a ruined shack. However, handing out a series of small amulets, he clears a small patch on the floor and taking the hands of Ragron and Torment vanishes!

"Oi," barks Anscar at Aramil "I thought you knew him, why is he nickin’ our wimin'?"
" I am down here" Serallen’s Voice Floats up from below.

Looking through the boards in the floor the party can just make out Serallen, Torment and Ragron standing in a Hidden Cellar. Taking the hands of the remaining party members, Aramil and Valanae Fey step into the concealed cellar and from there they are led into the rather well appointed headquarters of the Cult of Naenaris.

Ruenethra, leader of the cult in the city and an attractive Eladrin lady greets the party in her luxurious meeting room. Cushions and Chez Longue abound and the party are soon comfortably sat listening to her explain the cult’s (religious order’s) plight.

The cult is looking for the lost City of the Eladrin, also known as the dreaming city, once said to have rested beneath the ruins of this very metropolis. The cult have been given a Magical Dagger by one of their contacts within the city, but their divinations have revealed that it is possessed by some manner of Devil! In order to destroy it, the cult needs Anscar’s Army to retrieve The Crucible of Flame. It currently resides with a clan of Rat men known as the Bile Spider Clan, whose leader is using the powers of the Crucible to create horrific Alchemical mutations in the sewers.

So they set off through the tunnels beneath the city and begin looking for the Bile spider clan’s lair. Asking around about rumours and trying to track rat men patrols through the southern ruins eventually leads the Army to a small band of Bile spiders who descend upon them looking to harvest their organs. Euuwww!

A vicious struggle ensues, but dispatching their whiskered foes and having relived them of a small bag of organs and sky rock, the party find their way to the sewers leading to the Rat men's Lair.

The narrow sewer tunnel proved to have a ledge running beside the almost dry sewage channel leading to a slightly raised area. Some crude palisades, a balcony with a small wooden door and a larger stone door set level with the ledge were the only signs of habitation. A bridge had clearly once connected the ledge to the raised at the end of the tunnel on which the party found themselves. The bridge had long since sagged and dropped into the shallow filth beneath it leaving the crossing difficult to traverse.

Aramil led the way, spotting and dispatching a Rat man hiding in the filth of one of the side passages. As more rat men burst from their filthy hiding places in the muck or behind the primitive barricades (Rob) Rangor charged forward only to be blinded by the Rat man Hexer prancing on the Balcony. The dancing Rat magician then followed by releasing a sack of hideous mutant rat bats with razor sharp teeth which fell upon the blinded Dragonborn fighter. Aramil and Valanae almost desperate to avoid the filth Fey stepped between the platforms and unleashed arrow and spell at the two Rat men Snipers who in return were cranking the handles of their automatic crossbows.

In the aftermath a strange hum could be heard.

session 2

2008-02-28T09:05:00.000-08:00

We played the 2nd session last night finishing the Topaz Championship. Here is Dave's recounting.

Suzume Tomo-sama e

Autumn clutches leaf,
Jade turns to bronze upon the
breeze, Tree sheds its gold.

Father, I have news of much import, after the second days activities of the Topaz championship had drawn to a close, my friends and I were returning to the sleeping quarters, when we came across Bayushi Denbe standing over the bodies of 3 ninja and Doji Wakao of the Crane. Doji-san was dead when we got there, and Bayushi was lightly injured. They had been rumoured to be arguing over a lady they had a mutual interest in, but I am unaware of the precise details, and do not wish to cast aspersions based upon court rumours.

Upon our return to the main hall with Bayushi-san, we were met by the Emerald Champion no less, he was an impressive man, with an inspiring aura about him. He analysed the situation and was about to adjudicate when Usagi Kamahime of the Hare Clan accused him of murdering the Crane. Bayushi-san instantly responded by challenging her to a duel the next morn, which she accepted. I awoke early to observe the duel, and I must admit that I hoped that Usagi-san won, as I had enjoyed a few conversations with her, and she seemed short-tempered, but interesting. Alas it was not to be, and the suns first rays caught the hare’s last moments. Kuni Shinechi of the Crab, was not happy about this, but contained her anger at the duel. She strikes me as unusual for a Crab, which is no bad thing! She is gruff, but very kind-souled, and rescued me from carousing Crabs, which is no mean feat, but an amusing alliteration, as the old Sparrow saying goes. It is all as Grandmother used to say “those who look out over a wall had better pay attention to the state of their kimono.” I still do not fully understand the meaning, but I believe I am on my way to finding out.

The next day I won in the first round of Iaijutsu duels against the Phoenix Shiba Takoko, but was bested by Bayushi Denbe of the Scorpion clan in the next round. It was a tightly fought affair, but Bayushi-san was my better upon this occasion. My cousin, Daidoji Hoshi lost against Miromoto Otakan of the Dragon Clan. I was very surprised at first, but upon observing Miromoto-san’s stance in the final I realised that he has great skill.

After all contests Miromoto-san was announced as the Topaz Champion, justifiably so as there was only one contest that he failed. He is a tribute to the Dragon clan. There is a Dragon monk who attended the tournament, Togashi Nagasaki, who I found intriguing. The Dragon truly are as you described, answering in riddles on one hand, and winning contests on the other.

I did the Sparrow proud, finishing joint second with Hoshi-chan. Bayushi-san finished third, so once more the Sparrow clan have held off the Scorpions! I decided not to mention the irony to him. Once the presentation was complete, Hoshi-chan and myself were approached by the Emerald Champion himself, and he offered us the positions of Emerald Magistrate, to travel to the area of Ryoko Owari in the Scorpion lands! I was therefore very glad that I had not mentioned the irony to the Scorpion.

I am honoured that the Emerald Champion himself would offer me a position as a magistrate and I swore an oath to uphold the respect the position holds. I intend to fully research the position and its responsibilities and become the best magistrate there is. I believe coming from the Sparrow Clan will aid me in this task as I have no ties to major clans and can act impartially. I will enjoy working in this task alongside Hoshi-chan, as he is one of the best swordsmen I have ever seen, even if he is loath to boast of his prowess. Kuni Shinechi of the Crab, Shosuro Sakura of the Scorpion, and Togashi Nagasaki of the Dragon were selected to assist us. I feel unworthy of their assistance, as they each have skills beyond my own. Shosuro is an unknown quantity at the moment, but her help will be invaluable as she is of the Clan whose lands we shall be in. Working with a Dragon Monk is an honour all of itself, and I am hope to return home soon to inform you further of our progress. How is Grandfather getting along? The Crab clan samurai very much enjoyed one of his stories which I recounted at the drinking party, so much so that 4 of them even closed their eyes to enable them to fully envision the scene. I was very impressed by their dedication to the story, and afterwards inquired after their names, and I have sent them the written transcripts so that they may be able to recount the tales to their fellows.

Well father, I must get on, but here is a poem I wrote in honour of my appointment.

Yo, check this shit out,
Sparrow Clan did kill this man,
Haiku funk you fool.

(Actually scratch that last one, it hardly seems fitting…)

Neutral as the sun,
Justice shines on all who breathe,
Emperor sees all.

(I prefer the first one)

Suzume Dirojiro, Emerald Magistrate.
(Destroyer of Worlds, e.t.c)

Suzume Daiojiro journal

2008-02-27T02:40:00.000-08:00

Not to be outdone here is Dave's;

1128-16-5

Suzume Tomo-sama e

私によってはあなたの病気が退いたことが祈る。ここの天候は冷たく育ち、夜は身長で育つ。冬は私達に偽りなくある。

私の手紙の理由はトパーズ選手権の私の進歩の言うべきである。私はを達成する十分なポイントをあなたが私に教えたレッスンのためのあなたに私の感謝を表現したかった今有し。他の武士は主に主要な一族であり、このでき事ですずめの一族を表すためにそれは自尊心で私を満たす。私はこれらの尊重された個人と競うために名誉を与えられる。
私は私達の一族を記念して詩を構成し、あなたにそれを表現するために書いている。

高いすずめの飛行
次の茶色の地球に
分散させた石、私の中心

探求のコンテストの間に、武士の1 グループは狂暴なクレーンによって攻撃されたが、私のグループはそれらを容易に回転する。私は無事だったが、コンテストのクレーン武士の1 つは殺された。攻撃者はコンテストに不名誉を持って来ることを試みて、私は恐れている成功したことを。私はリーダー、気高いドラゴンの武士の後ろの2 ポイントであるが、たった1 日が残ある、従って私は彼をつかまえてなくないかもしれない。

5 月木の取得からの花落ちる長い時間。
Keigu, Suzume Daiojiro

and the translation:

I pray that your illness has receded. The weather here grows cold, and the nights grow in stature. Winter is truly upon us.

The reason for my letter is to tell you of my progress in the topaz championship. I have enough points now to achieve gempukku and wished to express my gratitude to you for the lessons that you have taught me. The other samurai are mainly major clans, and it fills me with pride to represent the Sparrow Clan at this event. I am honoured to even compete against these esteemed individuals.
I composed a poem in honour of our clan and I am writing to express it to you.

“Sparrow flying high,
Over the brown earth below,
scattered rock, my heart.”

During the hunting contest, one group of samurai were attacked by rogue crane, but my group slew them easily. I was unharmed but one of the crane samurai in the contest was killed. The attackers were trying to bring dishonour to the contest, and i fear they have succeeded. I am two points behind the leader, a noble dragon samurai, but there is only one day left, so i may be unable to catch him.

May the blossom from the tree take a long time to fall.

My regards, Suzume Daiojiro.

Session 1 The Topaz Championship

2008-02-27T02:09:00.000-08:00

My L5R Campaign is set pre Clan War and This is Rob's Character's Journal Written as a series of letters to his lord and sensei Kakita Toshimoko.

Greetings Toshimoko-sama,

I hope that this missive finds you well. The honour you do me and my family with a position at the Topaz Championship cannot yet be repaid. I will do all that I can to bring honour to you and your teachings.

I understand that Shino-san has also been chosen to attend. His skill is an equal to my own and a credit to your tutelage. I hope the steel of his ability is not engulfed by the flame of his ambition.

I remain your most humble of servants.

Daidoji Hoshi

Toshimoko-sama,

I am pleased to report the first two days of competition went well, despite a few disturbing events. My cousin Sezume Daijiro-chan of the Sparrow was also chosen to attend the championship, sponsored by our clan. I am sure that you must have had a hand in his selection and I thank you for extending this opportunity to my noble cousin. I am once more in your debt.

In the sumei I drew Hiruma Do of the Crab, a most worthy if exuberant opponent. I was able to direct him from the circle but I fear if he had caught hold of me he would have over powered me.

I fear I did not do you as much honour as you deserve in the test of my knowledge of heraldry. I must devote more time to my studies of the coats of arms of our celestial emperor’s honoured servants.

The following next event was the race. I drew against Shiba Takako of the Phoenix and Agasha Gojinka of the Dragon. Takako-san was more than my equal in swiftness and easily took the lead. Despite a hard fought pursuit I was finally able to see of Gojinka-san and took a worthy second place.

Honoured sensei, I must report that I believe someone is trying to sabotage the competition and cause harm to its worthy competitors. I do not wish to speak it out loud to Miya Shoin-sama or the other arbiters as I am sure this will drive the cowardly saboteurs further into their dark burrows. If you command it I will of course tell them everything but I would beg your indulgence in conducting my own exploration of the events.

During the Kenjitsu competition, I was drawn against the most praiseworthy Yuriko of the Mantis. She fought ferociously and struck me a tremendous blow but in doing so left herself over extended and exposed. I could have struck and ended the fight but I noticed that the padding on her Yumi had come loose and the gleam of metal was clearly seen below. I paused and called for the arbiters who called an end to our bout and ordered the other weapons checked.

That very evening, Kakita Shino-san was arguing with Mirumoto Otakan of the Dragon. I thought Shino-san was acting foolishly and trying to goad Otakan into a duel in order to shame him, but now I think he may have known something I did not.
Either way, the Dragon did not rise to his challenge and both retired to bed shortly after.

I dreamt that night of a great dragon of shadow clad in gleaming Topaz armour, coiled around Tsuma. Where ever The Dragon’s body touched, scorpions could be seen scurrying into the darkest shadows. I have spoken to no Shugenga of this but this omen cannot be good for this competition or our clan.

I composed myself as best as I could for the Haiku challenge. I earned a point form the arbiter but I do not believe mine to be the best effort. I must spend more time at court.

Myself and Daijori-san were drawn together for the tests of our knowledge of Bushido. My cousin did well and told a...detailed story to prove his knowledge of our guiding principals but I was able to argue a subtle point of honour to emerge victorious. Perhaps my lack of court attendance will not be as much of a hinderance as I had first thought.

Our task for the hunt was to retrieve eggs from a fish that is found in the forest lakes around Tsuma. Myself and my cousin were again selected together, along with Kuni Shinichi of the Crab, Togashi Nagasaki of the Dragon, and Shosuro Sakura of the Scorpion.

We travelled into the forest and kuni-san proved her worth. She clearly has a strong connection to The Ring of Earth as she summoned an earth spirit which easily allowed us to collect the eggs we required. Mere minutes after starting our search we were heading back to claim our victory when we heard sounds of battle from deep into the woods.

We ran quickly and came upon another band of competitors, including Shino-san, under attack from 3 dishonourable Ronin. Their leader wore a crude mempo and was fighting with great skill and a feeling of familiarity nagged at me. As we drew closer, the leader drew back his blade and cut Kakita Shino-san down in one slice, and with a back swing carved into Xuren of the Unicorn, dropping him to the ground. As our tattoed companion from the Dragon unleashed a blast of flame at him, I charged into to challenge him.

Forgive me Toshimoko-sama, but I do not fully understand what happened next. The leader called out to refuse my challenge but the voice that came from his lips was that of my father. He attacked me with great energy and skill and I was barley able to fend him off. He cut into my side with a flick of his Katana but I was able to counter attack. His blade flew to stop mine but fuelled by my rage I was able to move past his defence and cut him down. Fearing the taint of the Shadowlands I used a finger of jade on the corpse before Shinichi-san turned her powerful abilities on his body to remove any chance of the taint. The blast caught me as well and I am pleased to report that it revealed no taint on either me or the corpse.

Whatever dark force allowed the voice of my father to issue from the lips of this despicable ronin must be sought out and destroyed. I humbly ask that I be allowed to pursue this course.

Tomorrow sees a new dawn and the Iajitsu competition, which I have high hopes of doing well in. I will ensure that I do not shame you and will do my best to bring glory to you and your school.

I will entrust this letter to a trusted servant and I trust it reaches you swiftly.

May the blessings of the Kami fall upon you.

Daidojo Hoshi

2008 and L5R

2008-02-27T02:07:00.001-08:00

Well This year has got off to a good start. Not for Blogging, but for other stuff it is going really well.

I have started a L5R Roleplaying Campaign and I expect this one to last longer than Deadlands.

Several of the Players are Writing IC journals so I will post them up here along with session write ups from me.

Episode 2 The Journal of Dr Wilder

2007-11-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

We picked up a preacher in Tombstone, fingers doesn’t like him, just before we got chased out of town thanks to Tobias. He is Irish but has excellent bone structure.

Our Hasty departure prevented us from catching the Train we had booked, very frustrating, that combined with Sara’s insistence that we do something about Helstromme has us travelling north toward Utah and Colorado, I don’t want to go anywhere near Helstromme but I still think I am safer with these brave folks than on my own. Fingers Agrees.

We have been Travelling for almost a week now, most of us riding in miss McGanne’s so called Wagon, most uncomfortable. Perhaps some manner of suspension system using reanimated horses legs…hmmmmm, Ahhhhh a spider!

We are being attacked by Arachnids of unusual size, I am hidden under the running boards of the Wagon. Tobias seems to be shooting at us! Fingers was right! It was just a matter of time before he turned on us, we’ll show him, we’ll show them all!

It was a misunderstanding he was shooting at spiders, We might show him anyway. Reggie was quite badly bitten but I have patched him up, he really does have lovely hands, they would be perfect for… no, no The Arachnids seemed to be able to leap great distances and they bury themselves to facilitate Ambush. Fascinating, no one else seems to think so, they are all leaving… Wait for me.

This town is empty, what a hole, no rail station. Very well dressed Black man waved at me from by the church as we rode in though. Sheriff is boring also runs a store Failure of a man.

People have been going missing. How thrilling perhaps we will get to see more examples of the “Terrorantulas” as Tobias keeps calling them. A little girls family has been taken apparently pulled into the ground, fascinating perhaps their tunnelling abilities are for more than just ambushes!

A local group of Rascals may also be responsible for the missing people Tobias seems sure that his “Snake Oil Salesman” is responsible but that seems preposterous. We are going to see these Ruffians they are much more likely to be the cause of the local unrest.

HOLY MOTHERLOAD! That was the biggest Spider I have ever seen! If we could hcapture it then Helstromme could never stop us NEVER! Drat, upon its demise at the hands of a large quantity of TNT Wielded by Miss MCGanne it dissolved into thousands of smaller specimens. Perhaps I can Breed another gigantic one, I must try to get a sample.

Deadlands Reloaded

2007-11-08T07:52:00.000-08:00

I have started a Deadlands Reloaded Campaign and in the interests of having the session logs online I am going to post them here.

Last Train Reloaded

On the last Train to Santa Cruse Our Heroes find themselves in interesting company, Two miners, a cowardly card sharp and a nervous doctor are all grilled by the friendly Lady on her way to meet her Husband in Tombstone. Jenny Lou’s enquiries meet similarly short responses when she starts to grill our Heroes.

Suddenly (power!) around midnight the chat (and the train) is brought to a screeching halt by the Barricade of some Brigands but when the party goes to investigate the Brigands are already Dead! Ripped apart by some seemingly unstoppable attackers! While they continue to investigate the nearby abandoned Railroad camp they hear shots from the passenger car.

Heading back to the rescue they find the carriage besieged by the walking dead tough and leathery like beef jerky the gruesome zombies still burn as Sara finds out after Zapping one that was trying to crawl through one of the windows breaking the nearby lamp and showering the capering cadaver with burning oil. Just as they seem to have saved the Day the wall is caved in and with an echoing cry of “BHAAAAB” The innocent Jenny is grabbed, pulled straight from the Train and absconded with into the darkness.

Fierce chase is given, as cries of “Bhab?” echo across the prairie, but the re-stitched creation knocks out Miss McGann and high-tails it into the night.

Returning to the Train for some much needed First Aid they find Dr Wilder’s Bag open on the floor of the Still burning Passenger car. The notes and Diagrams inside the Doctors bag reveal much:
Posing as the undertaker in the nearby town is the man Wilder was on his way visit. Professor Vinton Radcliffe. The Two had corresponded some years before

Before Radcliffe was chased out of the Maze, he met Edwin Wilder, another scientist interested in the reanimation of dead tissue. The two sometimes compared notes and even
collaborated on a few experiments. Wilder left the Great Maze a few years before Radcliffe to take a job with Hellstromme Industries—working in the company’s automaton division. Radcliffe corresponded with Wilder after his move to Salt Lake City. The two continued to share research information. Wilder occasionally sent Radcliffe secret Hellstromme Industries formulas and techniques—secrets that could cost him his job if it was discovered that he had divulged them.

Unfortunately for Wilder, a freak lab fire exposed his unwitting espionage. Investigators looking through the ruins of the lab discovered some of his letters from Radcliffe and called him in to answer some questions. Rather than show up for the interview, Wilder grabbed some lab samples and notes and headed out of town. Once he got inside the Confederacy, he sent Radcliffe a telegram informing him that he was on his way and boarded a Black River train to Little Rock. In Arkansas, he caught a boat down the Mississippi to New Orleans where he transferred to a Bayou Vermilion train to Santa Cruse.

Luckily for the Posse Tobias is a skilled Tracker and by the Ghost rock Lamps on the front of the McGann Mobile they manage to follow two sets of tracks into the night one of a horse and another of the love struck construct. After an hour of the slightly creepy feeling of being watched, Fingers the animate hand created by Wilder, reveals itself to the Posse and leads them to its master.

Finding a lathered horse drinking from a rock pool the posse follows the tracks to an old silver mine in the nearby hills. Heading into the darkness they overcome twisted mockeries of Coyotes with Huge slavering Mouths full of implanted Sharks Teeth.

Defeating the canine defenders they come across Radcliffe’s secret Lair. Miss Jenny Lou was chained to a Wall while Radcliffe glowered menacingly from under the brow of his ULM Device, Also chained but to a table rather than to the wall Dr Wilder was about to be implanted with one of the Shards of Ghost Rock found in the heads of all the desiccated Dead. Guarding this Tableau was the stitch work man Bahb! and another 6 of the beef jerky zombies.

Battle was joined and as Sara’s personality flipped back and forth like a light bulb Reggie’s hexes get the better of him time and time again as the Manitous he bargains with best him in their tests of will. The Battle Rages back and Forth and Professor Radcliffe is felled by a shotgun blast to the chest, With their controllers death the unliving Jerky turn on one another and the chained up Wilder who is defended by the plucky Fingers and the schizo Miss McGann. Bhaab enraged by the death of his creator takes a lot of effort to fell and is eventually felled by a lucky shot from Sara.

Mike Martello Seminars

2007-10-25T03:11:00.001-07:00

A 4am start in Hampshire for me and a 5.10am start from Belgium for our instructor Sifu Mike Martello and still I get to Birmingham airport only about 10mins before he does! After a rather bleary but beautifully sunny day spent taking the mick out of our respective “languages” (those who attended the seminar will never forget the immortal words “Speak English Mothe…”well anyway very entertaining) we arrived in sunny Aldershot for a seminar on Quinna and throws.

Training began at 7pm at Connaught school gym with a floor full of mats. The “warm up” was one of the most painful parts of the session, with twisting internal body movements used to release shoulders, back and improve body alignment. The French have a saying that “pain is the craft entering the apprentice” by which yard stick we will all be super Gonfu masters after about a week of that carry on! Everyone was very warm and much more relaxed if a little aching by the end.

The Quinna seminar began with Mike throwing Dave around followed with us all partnering off and doing it to one another. We learnt about four different techniques including two excellent throws and variants on them.

Particular shining lights included Lewis one of our Monday new chaps who ended up throwing Nathaniel nearly clean off the mat whilst demonstrating great aptitude with “Soft power”. Pretty scary given that the Sword I was using on Sunday was taller than this kid! Matt Bedows and newbie Steve were also caught on camera with some very impressive mat clearing Sweva, large men flying through the air is always a sight to see! Special bravery awards should go to Chris who had never done any Gongfu before ever and Karen whose wrists are made out of glass and still managed to chuck me about like a rag doll.

By the end of nearly 4 hours we were knackered but happy to have trained and learnt some very cool things. Including a chat about Chi during which time without thinking about it all of us cast Chun side long looks in case (as the only Haan Chinese member there) he might be holding out on us for some weird mystic insight. Mike debunked a lot of the wrongly held ideas about Chi and impressed on us the fact that we all do Quigong by dint of simply breathing in and out! Brilliant!

Huge thanks to Mike for taking time out of a crazy country hopping schedule to come down to Hampshire and teach. Looking forward to more seminars in the future!

Magica

2007-10-05T06:29:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Kate and I started playing in Magics, Charles Ryans D20 Based Ars Magica Campaign. A retelling of our Daring Deeds has been started here:

http://www.europamagica.blogspot.com/

Beijing DVD

2007-10-05T04:02:00.000-07:00

A promo taster of the Beijing Camp DVD is available here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb7F20BZYU0

I will be getting the full hour long version to subject my friends and family too when Mike comes to visit for his Quinna and Miao dao Seminars in a couple of weeks.

Kung Fu Camping

2007-09-24T02:24:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Having been back from China barely a month we headed off on another expidition. Not quite as grand this time we travelled to Dorset for a weekend of Kung Fu Camping.

We stayed near Swansea in a small campsite and spent Saturday and Sunday Training and Exploring the local Area.

We visited Durdle Door (a Large Rock Arch) and another stretch of Coast before heading back to civilisation on sunday afternoon and doing a final set of Training at Frimly Lodge Park.

Exciting Photos of our weekend can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/davetrollkin

We're Back!

2007-08-31T01:29:00.000-07:00

Hello All

We have arrived Safe and sound in the (rather cold) UK! We Landed on Tuesday after a 10+ hour flight, and are nearly over jet lag etc. More details o the trip and a write up of the last few days to come over the weekend.

Big Thanks to Robie for posting for us while we were behind the great firewall of China.

Some more (but still not all) of the picture of the trip can now be found here:

Photos

more will be going up over the weekend and they will be annotated and put in the right order as well.

See you all soon
Dave and Kate

China Post 5: Sweaty Circles & Great Walls

2007-08-23T06:34:00.000-07:00

Yet another and possibly final update from the Kung Fu Chaos Couple!
From the sound of it the great wall is...well actually great !! and Kung Fu is sweaty work if you walking around in circles as you practice it... Anyway here is what K8 has to say on the subject...

"Hey people, The Great wall is BIG! I mean REALLY BIG, you may think its a long way down the road to the Chemist but thats just peanuts to...well you get this idea. A good bit of it (some 900miles) is still intact and simply climbs over the ridiculous pitcure postcard mountains without the slightest nod to altering the landscape to fit the structure.
This does mean that at some points the crenalations are sideways to the vertical! Very funny. Even on the wall there are people hawking stuff to tourists the funniest are the certificates showing your picture and to day that you've climbed the wall! There is a Chinese saying that you are not a real man or woman until you have climbed the wall.

This is one of the famous Mister Who quotations, he is our tour guide and whilst he speaks English is the worlds; funnist chap! I highly recommend him to anyone who is going anywhere!

Who-isms:
"The female Guardian Lion is always on the right, you know why?? Because the women are ALWAYS right!" (exit Mr Who Stage left).

"So the Emperor before the ceremony must not eat meat and thus suffer as vegetarians do!"

"If you are lost (in the forbidden city sand is actually pretty much anywhere we have been) just keep walking Keep walking!" Presumably if you hit Mongolia get a cab back!

For the last week we have been training again so have elected to sleep at lunchtimes instead of post! Training has been going well, the heat has rocketed in the last 2 weeks, reckon this is the heat wave they have planned and the reason they moved us up into the mountains, it is ridiculously hot and sunny every day. Quite missing the 1 or 2 bits of rain we had in the first week!

We are still doing Bagua but now have slightly more complex changes to the circles and also have moved up to walking 10 circles both clockwise and anti clockwise for each palm. This means we are walking round in 160 circles four times each afternoon in an average temperature of 30 degrees centigrade!
It's rather warm and we are sweating like bastards, very attractive! You think we would be losing weight but they keep feeding us mega amounts of grub! If you are sitting on a table with a chinese person then they will start ladelling stuff onto your plate even if you are full to bursting, they don't really understand the words "Not hanks I'm full" or indeed the conept! :)

More pictures of Training and our Trip to another Buddist temple can be found here "

China Post 4: More Tourism

2007-08-18T06:24:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.. yes its time for another exciting update..but this time from our Kung Fu enabled Boy Scout Dave and for those that are wondering, yes it does similarity of this posting to a School / Scout event report is in my view unavoidable. Once your trained to write-up your adventure in that style its impossible to break...especially in one so young :)
Anyhow onto the report...

"Our Sightseeing continued on the 2nd day with am earlier start, K8 and I continued to skip the six am Chi Gung practice during the sightseeing as sleeping seemed just as important.

We again boarded our Bus and headed to Tianamen Square. After about an hour we arrived and trekked towards the forbidden city, constantly besieged by Chines Kite and postcard Hawkers, all crying "HELLO, You want Book?" and similar.

We made it into the Forbidden city, which was BIG (robbie: Check it out here) it is surrounded by a 52m wide moat and 12m Tall walls. We were led relentlessly through enormous courtyards and interesting rooms by our guide Mr Wu who has been a tour guide for years and knows loads about imperial concubines and other fascinating topics. Just as at the summer palace he set a break neck pace periodically stopping so we could take photos.

In the Gift Shop near the north Gate we found a woman painstakingly Reverse painting on the inside of Glass spheres. After that we headed through the imperial gardens to a Tea House where we got to see a Traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony and tasted 5 different Teas including a special Slimming Tea. (robbie: Please bring back lots of this magic tea)

Having enjoyed our stop at the Tea house we carried on to The Alter of Heaven and its surrounding Park. This we discovered is Where Xu Laoshu our incredible 65 year old Tai Chi and Ba gua Teacher normally Trains, we had however missed him by a scant ten minutes.

That evening we dined at a very pleasant restaurant in the Olympic village. The Village and its nearly finished "Birds nest Stadium" Will have an example of every different type of Chinese Architecture and looks very Eclectic even half finished.

Still to come THE GREAT WALL and Back to Training..."

China Post 3: The Tourists

2007-08-13T23:47:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody, I'm here once again with another exciting update from our wondering Kung Fu enabled westerners. today they are telling tails of stone boats, tea parties and some particularly large wall they stumbled across.... so without further ado read on...

“The Story so far... Our intrepid heroes have actually had 3 days sight seeing! This, we foolishly thought, would be a well deserved break from training 12 hours a day, we were wrong! Out of interest everything in China seems to take ”about an hour“ to get to, whether it is dinner, the Summer palace or the shopping market, distance is irrelevant. Certain Exalted types will find this entertaining :)

The Summer Palace
Saturday 11th August 2007
On Saturday we went to see the Summer Palace, which was truly splendid and HOT and SUNNY. There are massive 1000 year old trees, a HUGE man made lake with boats for messing abut on and a bloody great big marble boat described so eloquently by one of our American cousins as ”Retarded“ (Yes that is you American Dave). The boat is actually quite beautiful and BIG (this is also a theme in China) and nearly bankrupt the country during the Opium wars. The Palace itself has long corridors and winding paths and is very pretty without being imposing. There are a LOT of stpes (also a Chinese feature) and everything is VERY high up which of course Dave loves! We made it up to the top to see the thousand armed budha and then made our own version where several of us crowded behind Dieter (who Xu Laoshi reckons looks like Budha) and contributed more arms to his celestial enlightenment. We had a bit of an adventure to get back to the bus with Dave ”I'm a Scout “Thompson actually getting us back in record time! We then went to the Laotze Tea House for dinner and Chinese opera and entertainment.

The Tea House
The food was OK but not as good as the restaurant that mister Zhang had taken us to on the Friday night. We then all piled into the theatre room for tea and weird small things to eat. All of the food was very beautiful, there was a dish of air freshener, some annoying seeds, a soft version of sesame cracknel biscuits and something which looked like it should have been sweet but turned out to be savoury. There was a small dose of Chinese Opera, which is a Lot like pantomime with incredibly expensive costumes. There was a magic silk scarf act, some alleged kungfu whihc wsas pretty much dance and acrobatics whilst shouting and a Wicked face changing performance, where with slight of hand or maybe head the performer changed masks without seeming to move! The tea house had some expensive rooms downstairs with indoor grass (more successful than the stuff at the last one of our mob who had it) and some raised contained living rooms with splendid wooden design. The feeling was of a courtyard of small rooms, very cool! The following are teasers as we've been on this for over an hour and need to get a life :) Look on the face book links below for the latest pictures, you can look even if you are not on Facebook, which Dave is and I am not! Apologies for appalling spelling (Robbie: I've corrected most of it) but we've just had a 10 minute fight with the machine to get it back into English characters, this is of course the fault and not my appalling typos and random hot key shots when I am excited :) :) ”

Day 2 :
Tinamen Square, Forbidden City, Tea House, Alter of Heaven, Peal Market and the Olympic Village.

Day 3:
The Great Wall

Photo's are here

I'm going to have to interrupt you there.. imagine if you will an angry Chinese teenager trying to logon to Warcraft standing beside K8 and Dave... I'm sure they will send as more in the goodness of time.

Technorati Tags: China

From China - Post 2

2007-08-08T06:12:00.000-07:00

Another update today, it all sounds like a huge amount of pain and effort to me for a holiday but whatever floats your boat I guess... anyhow onto the update..

"The Story so far:

We are shattered but its ACE! We are learning Tai CHi int eh mornings for 3 hours this is after getting up at 5.30am and doing standing, breathing ChiGung
by the central lake in the quadrangle. very chilled out "most tranquil"

I do a 42 step Tai Chi which is crazy precise and a competition form. Dave does 24 step Chen style Tai Chi which is the short form. We have different teachers. I also learn Tai Chi fan which looks very pretty and also has applications.

Lunch is from 11ish until 2pm, but this time is spent being fed WAY too much by our hosts (each meal a banquet, SERIOUSLY) and then passed out in our room, or trying to get on the only machine in the hotel to send info to you guys (assuming the youngster abd ze Germans are not on it!).\

The afternoon Dave and I are back together from 2pm until 5pm learning Bagua, which is taught to us by a blinding teacher called Xu ("Zoo") ShiXi ('she zee"). He is wicked and looks lie a Chinese Elvis has massive glasses and knows HUGE amounts of information which he attempts to haemorrhage at us each day! :) :)

He is , apparently, 65 but is tremendously flexible and fit and clearly has the body of a MUCH younger man. Bagua is on first regard about walking in circles! But it has some tremendous applications and all of the circle walking are for body conditioning and health aspects. Xu has never been to hospital or been seriously ill and hopes never to be for at least another 20 years!

Look at some pictures here: China Facebook Photo's

We can't post to the blog as we think it comes under government fire wall regulations, but facebook works.

We have been to a Jet-hai (not Jedi although it was pretty close) temple which was just wicked! Pagodas and ancient 1000year old trees and weird bugs! There is no bird song here it is all insect noise of one form or another.

We do 3 treasures sword int eh evening from 5-6pm then dinner at 7pm, and classes at 8.30pm,. Tonight we have a Tuina massage session with Master Sun. we are all really looking forward to that one as almost everything hurts all the time...its brilliant! :)

See you all soon

K8 and Dave "

From China - Post 1

2007-08-02T06:19:00.000-07:00

The first update from China arrived in the early hours this morning.. so turn on your best internal excited K8 voice and read the following .....

"We are in CHINA!! Its Ace! The hotel looks like a Kungfu movie temple, there are painted murals and coi carp and water everywhere. IT IS HOT!! The saort of hot where you think it will piss it down but it doesnt seem to do that here.

Training is WICKED! We do Tai Chi for 3 hours in teh morning and then 4 hours of Bagua in the afternoon. this is the second day of full on trianing and we are shattered everyone is really tired and achy but its just brilliant. Food is great, really amazing, utterly NO IDEA what we are eating!! Its best not to ask really.

Right will post again when we can!"

Hello Everybody !

2007-08-01T02:04:00.000-07:00

So hello everyone, for those that don't know me I'm Robbie, K8's techie friend and I've been given the task of bypassing the "Great Firewall Of China" and allowing everyone to find out what K8 and Dave are getting upto in the land of the rising sun!

For those that are wondering why they cannot Blogg this themselves here is why:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_the_People's_Republic_of_China

So I've had a few updates from them already...guess I'd better go on and post them...

Sunday Morning Flying to China this afternoon

2007-07-29T01:15:00.000-07:00

Why am I sitting in front of my computer?? Because I'm horribly over excited and can't face re-checking/packing everything again!! Dave similarly is playing on his (resurrected) Game Boy to try and quell the panic :)

We will of course have 4 hours of this once we get to the airport this afternoon and then another 9 hours of flight time. But, seeing as aeroplanes are designed to stand up to ridiculous pressures I'm sure they'll contain us :)

We are taking our mobiles but due to extortionate call charges abroad and an 8 hour time difference they will most likely be off except to check messages each evening.

We would both like to say HUGE thanks to everyone who has helped us get to this point and will come back with ridiculous stories, entertaining items and if we manage to get a vidicam a training montage >Fade up Eye of the Tiger<

Have a splendid August people, we will post when we can from Beijing!

Wednesday Night Panicking

2007-07-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

So the only night free this week and we have spent it productively panicking and throwing together what we need for GOING TO CHINA! See I told you we were excited. :)
Jules from our Kungfu club came round and stuck more needles in my arm and legs this time (she is a qualified acupuncturist). It is tremendously odd because they are bloody great big nails sticking out of your limbs but they do not hurt, just the odd tingle and hugely warm sensations and a terrible urge to giggle! Anyway my elbow is way better again so ready for training tomorrow :)

Dave won't stop over excitedly panicking, I'm beginning to wonder if he will ever sleep again!

Monday & Tuesday Training

2007-07-24T21:41:00.000-07:00

In order to instil the first and second forms in our very being and also to create the "jelly leg effect" Matt tortured the class with held positions at intervals during the form. Whilst sweating attractively we positioned and repositioned to get the moves and feel of the form and then held it for as long as it took for Matt to check everyone in the class. This is a fabulously good teaching aid as the quicker we are to "get it" the less time spent standing on one leg with your knee raised fists clenched and foot and quad muscles screaming in agony. These techniques combined to form Devastator! Strongest of the Decepti...anyway you get the idea :)

The muggy weather here may be helping towards training in 50% humidity in China, we are just lacking the 33oC+ temperatures to go with it. We'll see if we can bring some summer back from the East!

The Weekend

2007-07-24T01:23:00.000-07:00

The Last Weekend before we fly was brilliant. First thing on Saturday we went to see Transformers with only 4 other people in the Cinema.

We followed that with a Kung Fu Demonstration in Aldershot town Centre Matt, Calum, Kate and myself handed out flyers for Ancestral Mountains and the newly re-opened Games Shop.

Saturday evening we attended a BBQ organised by Matt and Mike and had a great time. There was ping pong, Bai Long (Tai Chi Bat and Ball) and LRP swords to keep everyone occupied and the food was great.

On Sunday Kate and I went to a Self Defence and Application Seminar and then to an All You Can Eat Curry house in Camberly.

All in all a great weekend.

Thursday Training

2007-07-20T02:54:00.000-07:00

Having enjoyed a night off getting all the stuff we are taking ready we were back to training last night.

After a short warm up we fetched a whole host of floor mats in and did some wais and leg exercises, which consisted of kneeling with a partner holding down your legs and then bending forward at the waist. Suprisingly hard on the backs of the legs rather than the core muscles.

We went on to more stretches and leg swings and then straight into another session of rolling away from sword wielding students.

The third hour finished with some slow Man da Style sparring and we carried on into Sylabus material for the secound hour.

We practiced Forms and Drills and finished the lesson with Yoga style torture Crunches led by Kate.

With just over a week to go we are very excited.

Tuesday Training

2007-07-18T04:44:00.000-07:00

We Trained again last night, this time in Farnbrough. There we used the soft room to practice yet more rolling while being chased by Shinai wielding fellow students.

We also did some jumping kicks and went through several of the early forms before revising the two person striking drills.

Training again on Thursday and on Sunday we are going to a Quinna and self defence seminar on sunday.

Monday Training

2007-07-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight was our first training session of the week. We Started with a quick warm up and moved straight into some Wu Shu Jumping Practice, and a short session of sparring in an enclosed space.

We also practiced breakfalls and rolling eventually leading up to passing a target pad between people while having to dodge and roll past someone with a Shinai.

In the Third hour Kate Stretched and I practiced some Pi-gua and slow Man Da style sparring.

New Training location

2007-07-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

With just two weeks to go and an unprecedented heat wave about to hit Beijing the location in which we will be training has been moved. We will now be training at the Jietai Temple on top of a mountain overlooking Beijing. Below are some pictures of the temple.

Set in forested mountains to the west of Beijing, the Jietai Temple (Temple of Ordination) is a tranquil retreat amidst fresh mountain air, scented with burning incense. The temple was first built in the year 622 during the Tang dynasty.

Almost 1400 years old, it sits on a hillside looking more like a fortress than a temple, surrounded by forbiddingly tall red walls. On a clear day, this temple offers an unhindered view of Beijing.

Please Donate

2007-05-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

To help Fund our Trip I have added a Pay Pal Donate Button and some Google Adds to the blog.

If you donate by Pay Pal please leave a mesasge in comments so that I can add you to the Thank you list.

The Trip

2007-05-18T04:45:00.000-07:00

The trip is being organised by Wu Tan Belgium and all the details can be found here

http://www.wutang.be/workshops/beijing/idx_beijing.html

A Youtube Vid of the Temple in which we will be training and some of the Teachers can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na-zc8hYu6c

Big Thanks

2007-05-18T04:36:00.000-07:00

A Big Thanks to everyone who has donated to our trip.

Paula Croft
Sabina
Olly MacAllister
Kevin Beadle
Matt Seaborn
Vickie Roberts
Jim Freeman
Dan Steel
Ashley Carver
Ryan Burge
Richard Reeves
Dave Nicolson
John Foggerty
Kevin Clarke
Tracy Morris
Rob Smith
Becky ottery
Drrell Ottery
Ricky Jones
Dean Snelson
Kurt Lewendon
Symon Rose
Matt Williams
Natalie Bertleson
Laura Clarke
Lee Saggers
Manda
David Stevens
Matt B
Paul Lambert
Mike Thompson
James Harvey
Rich Chalmers
Emma Milner
Richard Moody
Russ How
Alan Frost
Tai Couche
Lucy Burton
Ed Grey
Yvonne
Jason Whittle
Dena Lewis
Nick Doran
JB
Pitch
Lanky
Jules and Chris
Chris Baron
Chris Francis
Phil and Shirlee Gibbs
Gavin Applegate
Chris Ladd
Stuart Hercock
Bill Thompson
Goerge
Pete Werkin
Ruth Verity
Claive Payne
Alex Harris
Katie MacPhearson
Niel Marcus
Liv Hibbins
Neil Pullman
Sue Allan
Steve Light
Doc (Chris Waite)
Tracy
Jes
JJ
Ruth Tudhope
Steve Newbury
Chris
Sam Emmett
Karren Brooks
Carol Benny
Andrew Whitley
Lee Marshall
Kenny Burns
Anup Dave
Caroline Law
Alex Green
The Two ninjas from the unicorn event
Leanne
Steve (Tarvan)
Nice Girl that monstered the unicorn event
The Southampton, Reading and Sheffield UFS Players
Patriot Games
Eclectic Games
Steve Buckmaster
Barry and Wendy
Jo Wilson
Veronica Thompson
Ed Chirchman
HB
Bill List
Nick Kapelo
Alan Frost (again)
Adrian Brown
Ben Addison
Ben (Memphis)
Grindas
Sonny
Ian Heely
Barry Locke
Adam Bartlet
Fish
Jules
Matt Wyatt
Chole Isherwood
Richie Young
Mark Mitchell
Ewan Taylor
Hazel King
Justin Wilson
Richard Satchell
Warren Goodwin
Justin Davies
David Steele
John Pit-Lewis
Ciaron Lynch
Corinne Davies
Owen Beven
Stuart Duff
Erin Regan
Roger Brewer
Malcom Craig
Paul Grogan
Iain MacDonald
Paul
Niel "HEEEEED" Price
Stacy Hetton
Mike Khalil
Martin Wise
Adam Saunders
Chalky
James Adey
Joe
Matt Strange
Alex Hogg
Toby More
John Woodhouse
Mike Humphry
Mark Dorcy-Joyce
John Cortney
Chris Allsopp
The Harts Faction
Dan Mac
Gemma Mckee
Veronica Thompson
Amanda Cook
Ben Cheesman
Jason Hamer
Julia Frost
Ilya Savva
Liam O'Connor - Black Lion Games
Charles Ryan
Jeff Ellington
Tom Pike

2007-05-02T04:28:00.000-07:00

This Blog is to document the training and Fund Raising involved in Our trip to China to learn Kung Fu in August.

I have been studying Northern Longfist Kung Fu for two and a half years now, and This august K8 and myself have an opportunity to Travel to China and Study Kung Fu with the help of Wu Tan Belgium.

To help fund our trip we have decided to ask everyone we know for a pound each. We are also hosting ccg tournaments and various other sponsored events.