Chapter 1: Lotus Rises from Water

Coming to Iko's aid, Wei slices the cockroach completely in half, splattering the cleric in foul-smelling gore, but another rushes up and chomps on the fighter's leg!Feng's flaming fist explodes another of the bugs, pelting the groveling herder in a shower of burning cockroach parts.More and more of the bugs swarm through the gap in the corral fence, and start feeding on the screaming herder. Even more menace you with their hungry jaws.

What do you do?

There's a dung cart nearby that could plug the hole. It would take two or three strong men to move it. Or one Zhang Wei.

What do you do?

The cart's wheel catches on a fencepost, and Wei has to realign the thing before moving it into place. It hardly takes any time at all, but the momentary delay allows another couple of cockroaches to bite you as they slip past. There are now five of the bugs in the yard. Two of them are munching on the bloodied, screaming herder. The rest are running amuk. By now the commotion has drawn a crowd of grimy mumin who take one look at the scene and either run, screaming, or make the mistake of attempting to wrangle the cockroaches, which then turn on them.

What do you do?

Battle Music!

Feng reduces the bugs to puddles of steaming goo. The sobbing headsman lies curled into a ball soaked in the bug guts and his own blood and urine. It's uncertain how grievously wounded he is. Three bugs remain.

What do you do, Iko?

The Cockroach Pens

Battle Music!

---

The Guong Estate

Rong Hua's foot dislodges a shingle as she leaps off the roof, sending the tile crashing to the street below and alerting the sentries to her presence.

"Another one!" the archer yells, the thief in his sights, but his shot goes wide as a dagger pierces his throat, killing him instantly. Before his lifeless body hits the ground, another dagger takes the spearman in the back and stumbles, choking, lung pierced and filling with blood. Rong Hua spots the assailant before she clears the wall and lands in a roll inside the Guong courtyard. It's the lamplighter. Except this man is not a lamplighter at all; Rong Hua spots a tattoo on the back of the man's hand, in the shape of a black lotus. The mark of Zhao Xun, the assassin. The man scales the wall like a spider and vaults into the courtyard opposite Rong Hua. Flashing her a sly smile, Zhao Xun races into the noble's house.

The remaining human sentry sends the two crab-men after Wu Meng, then reaches for a whistle to raise the alarm.

What do you do, Wu Meng?

Rong Hua, do you go after Zhao Xun, or go to Wu Meng's aid?

Whatever Iko is doing, it's agitating the roaches even more. Two of them turn on the cleric, mandibles gnashing! The last one scuttles over to the headsman. What will you do, Feng, Wei and Iko?

The Guong Estate

The crab-men advance on Wu Meng, their half-intelligent faces daubed with paint, marking them as Guong Clan property. Wu Meng strikes, lightning-quick like a mantis, but his fists only glance off the crab-men's tough shells! One razor-sharp claw finds him and holds him fast!

With no one to stop him, the human guard blows on his whistle, raising the alarm in the compound!

---

The Cockroach Pens

Iko stands his ground but the crazed roaches overwhelm him. One chomps his staff in two, the other knocks him flat on his back!