BONES OF LI-PENG
Illus. by D. Martin
Li-Peng was the most famous sifu (teacher) at the Monastery of the Five Cherry Blossoms, a fabled site of learning and enlightenment nestled high in the mountains. This teacher is something of a folk hero among the peoples living in and around the mountains, although his true nature remains a mystery. The human goatherds in the valleys and lower peaks describe Li-Peng as a human, while the dwarf miners, whose outposts cling to the steep cliffs, call Li-Peng one of their own. Regardless of Li-Peng’s true origins, after his death many of his personal effects gained reputations for possessing magical properties. (DC 15) One spring, the monks of the Monastery of the Five Cherry Blossoms sent the young acolyte Li-Peng down into the village to purchase supplies, since the long winter had depleted their stores. Laden with bolts of the fine cloth the monks had woven, Li-Peng took up his staff and began the trek down the mountain. Halfway along his journey, he was accosted by a terrible ogre who held a vicious but blind hell hound on an iron chain. The ogre told Li-Peng the hound would be set upon him if he didn’t hand over the goods he was carrying. Li-Peng simply smiled, said that he had no fear of dogs, and made to continue on his way. True to his word, the ogre released his hound and ordered it to kill the monk, but Li-Peng was too quick. The nimble ascetic leapt into a tree and, running lightly along a branch above his enemies, quickly pulled off his robe and tossed it down over the ogre. The hell hound was fooled Li-Peng was a famous monk by the robe’s scent and fell upon whose armbones were transformed the ogre, tearing the giant limb into a set of magic nunchaku after his death from limb. Li-Peng, meanwhile, climbed down the tree and continued on his way. (DC 18; Monk’s Cunning)
CHAPTER 3
HISTORY
ITEMS OF LEGACY
Certainly one of the more ghoulish weapons ever created, the Bones of Li-Peng are exactly that—the right arm-bones of the famous monk Li-Peng, bound with sinew at the elbow joint and fashioned into nunchaku. Nonlegacy Game Statistics: +1 nunchaku; Cost 2,302 gp. You gain a +1 bonus on one Concentration check per day. Omen: Despite their morbid looks, the Bones of LiPeng are not at all evil. In fact, the weapon radiates a tangible aura of tranquility and calm.
When Li-Peng was an older man, a peasant came to the gates of the monastery to beg the monks’ aid. A band of fierce brigands was terrorizing the villagers and stealing their rice crop—the people had no rice with which to pay their taxes. Li-Peng vowed to deal with the bandits and set off toward the town with his trusty staff in hand. At dusk that evening, the outlaws rode into the settlement and demanded the daily harvest. Li-Peng, looking small and unassuming in his orange robe, stepped forward and told the robbers to depart and find honest work, lest their souls suffer in the afterlife. The thieves scoffed and fired their crossbows, but with a twirl of his staff, Li-Peng knocked their bolts away. The bandits, amazed by this display of skill, nevertheless leapt to attack. The monk simply laughed at them, for he was too nimble to be caught. Leaping about like a hare, he struck the brigands repeatedly with his staff, knocking them all senseless. When the leader awoke after the fight, Li-Peng harnessed him to a donkey cart and made him pull the vehicle back to the outlaws’ hideout. The stolen rice was recovered. (DC 25; Martial Whirlwind) At the twilight of Li-Peng’s life, when he had been master of the Monastery of the Five Cherry Blossoms for many years, one of his students came to him and asked why he didn’t write his wisdom down for future generations. Li-Peng grinned and repeated one of his oft-quoted proverbs—”If you meet the Enlightened One on the road, kill him.” The pupil pondered this, realizing the master meant no person could lead another to enlightenment. When the student countered that at least Li-Peng’s legendary martial arts skills should be preserved, Li Peng replied, “My arms are my own. Only if they were yours would they follow your road.” Evidently, the younger monk took Li-Peng’s proverb a bit too literally. When Li-Peng was dead and his body had been reduced to its skeleton, the young monk took
33
