This week's NPC will make for a wonderful reoccurring villain in any Beyond the Supernatural, Mystic China or Nightspawn campaign. He's the epitomy of arrogance but alomost powerful enough to warrent it. In a one on one situation he should be able to defeat almost any player character including Nightspawn, particularly after his demonic empowerment!

Suggestions, requests or comments? Feel free to ask. E-mail: taylorn@cadvision.com

     "Then you understand the terms of our agreement?"
     "I do great Mo."
     "Good. I expect the girl here the middle of the hour of the rat."

     Thus is the deal that Xing Chen, one of the greatest Liang Hsiung martial artists of all time has agreed to with the Infernal Overlord Bai Dong. Xing, having exhausted all of his obstacles in the world of men and achieved what he thinks is the greatest he can achieve has agreed to make the ultimate sacrifice, to obtain what he thinks is the ultimate reward.
     Xing Chen is one of the greatest demon wrestlers in the world, perhaps matched only by a few ancient masters. Xing began training at a young age in the Mongolian wilderness. He was a dedicated and ambitious student, motivated and impatient to learn the next move or technique. His natural strength, agility and endurance made him a tremendously successful student but even in those early years his mentors were concerned about his competitive nature. Most of the other students saw full armoured practice as a way to hone their skills and to have some fun. Xing saw it as a competition and he did not take loss well.
     Despite their concerns Xing's determination and natural ability convinced his mentors to allow him to stay and continue training. It would be a move that they would come to regret. Instead of learning humility and compassion like they hoped further instruction would do Xing became increasingly aggressive and competitive. He began to take practices far too seriously, considering defeat a personal failure and a wrong to be avenged. He was expelled from the monastery when he nearly gored a fellow student to death during a particularly intense practice. Xing, convinced that the elders were afraid of his ability left angrily.
     For years Xing wandered mainland China, challenging martial artists throughout the nation and accepting countless challenges of strength and endurance. He continued to practice Liang Hsiung and sought other teachers and students to challenge. Over time he defeated them all, or convinced himself that he would have had things been fair. So he sought out even greater challenges, and he defeated them as well. Each and every victory inflated his already tremendous ego and the things that he hadn't done shrunk.
     Eventually, when Xing believed that he had defeated all the challenges of man he sought the greatest challenge. Demons. He had been trained after-all to fight like these supernatural creatures, so what better to test his strength against than those that had inspired him? Xing found them, and he found them powerful, but small minded. Then he had the craziest of crazy ideas, he had achieved, he thought, all that a mortal man could, but what if he could become a demon? Suddenly a whole new world would be open to him, with all new challenges that he could only dream of. It was pure luck what happened next.
     Xing's quest for the next "ultimate" challenge brought him to a deep inland Chinese temple at just the right moment. Bai Dong, an Infernal Overlord was confronting a group of adventurers who had dared to try and find a cure for one of their comrades, victim of the dreaded Dim-Mak attack. Amongst them was a
recently reformed demon whom Bai Dong was determined to bring back into the fold. After he was foiled by the adventurers Xing approached the demon and requested the honour of joining him. Bai was intrigued but suspicious, eventually however Bai offered Xing immortality if he could prove his loyalty. Xing agreed and
the price was set, the sacrifice of a young girl to the Yema Kings.

None: The items in parenthesis are Xing's stats after he has been empowered by the Infernal Overlord Bai Dong's energy making him into a Damned Immortal.

Real Name: Xing Chen
Alignment: Diabolic
Hit Points: 60(180)    S.D.C.: 131(655)
P.P.E.: 6         I.S.P.: N/A    Chi: 33
Attributes: I.Q.: 10, M.E.: 11, M.A.: 12, P.S.: 25, P.P.: 18, P.E.: 23, P.B.: 10, Spd.: 19.
Horror Factor: 9 in full demon armor
Experience: 9th level Jian Shih (Weapon-Based Martial Artist)
Weight: 5 feet, 6 inches    Height: 115lbs.      Sex: Male    Age: 44
Disposition: An egotistical and extremely competitive man. Constantly bragging about his prowess as a warrior. Xing's attitude towards most problems is to smash them. He is extremely persistent and refuses to admit defeat.
Martial Art Powers: Demon Wrestling, Feign Death, Stone Ox and Laugh at Pain.
Magic: None.
Psionics: None.
Bionics/Cybernetics: None.
Combat: Liang Hsiung Kung Fu (Demon Combat): 5 attacks per melee, +3 initiative, +8 to parry, +6 to dodge, +4 to strike, +2 to palm strike(1D6/2D6), +3 to shoulder ram(1D4/2D6+knockdown), +2 to gore/double gore(1D4/2D6 or 2D4/4D6 double) , +2 to kick, +12 to damage,+6 to roll, +2 to pull punch, critical strike on a natural 19 or higher. Note: The second number in parenthesis is the armoured damage. For other attacks see Mystic China pg. 189. Demon Wrestling(in addition to the above): Pin/incapacitate on a natural 16 or higher, crush/squeeze(1D6+pain), +2 to strike with illegal gouge, +20% to conceal illegal move, feign illegal injury=66%, body block/tackle(1D6+knockdown), +3 to roll.
Bonuses: +8 vs. Pain, +2 vs. Horror Factor, +4(9) vs. Poison, +4(5) vs. Magic, and 24% to intimidate when demonstrating resistance to pain. Fatigues at one-third normal rate and heals twice as quickly as normal when made immortal in addition to those bonuses in parenthesis.
Vulnerabilities/Penalties: A blind lust for power and a tremendous ego that drives him to attempt increasingly difficult and dangerous things. After his pact with Bai Dong Xing will be at Bai's beck and call since Bai controls the very energies that give Xing his powers and immortality.
Skills of Note: Language: Chinese=98%, Language: Mongolian=95%, Paramedic=98%, Boxing, Body Building & Weight Lifting, Prowl=83%, Tracking=70%, Horse Riding=75%/60%, Wilderness Survival=80% and W.P. Demon Suit.
Allies of Note: Bai Dong, an Infernal Overlord, Xing's demonic sponsor (next week's NPC of the Week).
Enemies: Zi Qiao, a Reformed Demon trying to stop Xing and show him the error of his ways (NPC of the Week two weeks from now).
Weapons & Equipment of Note: A full suit of demon armor(A.R. 14, 140 S.D.C., -5% to Prowl). Has little else in terms of possessions.
Money: $3000.00

Hook: The characters are in Hong Kong, Signapore or another fairly major city in or near China.

Line: A young girl, the daughter of an important diplomat, buisnessman or religious figure goes missing. No ransom is asked for but evidence suggests she was kidnapped. In a couple of nights there will be a full lunar ecipse which may raise the suspicions of characters knowledgeable in magic.

Sinker: Xing has been ordered to kidnap this girl and bring her to Bai Dong the night of the eclipse for sacrifice. Bai wants to test Xing's mantle as well as his ability. Unbeknownst to him he is being watched and covertly helped by a pair of Copper Pigeons if anyone should interfere with Xing's quest Bai will know. Xing is currently holding the girl in some out of the way place within the city.

Hook: The players are somewhere in China, perferably in the wilderness but the concrete jungle of the city streets will do as well.

Line: Menacing notes, phone calls and other signs begin to plague one of the characters (probably the most combat oriented). Over time it becomes apparent that the character is being stalked or toyed with. Eventually a note or call or meeting will directly challenge the character to a game of survival. The identiy of the stalker is never revealed.

Sinker: Xing has chosen one of the players as his next great challenge or hunt. He has been observing them and will give them time to prepare. Once he's made his intentions known however there will be no holes barred in the chase. Eventually after a certain amount of time Xing has set for himself the character may be left unmolested, respected for being able to survive that long, though Xing would have won eventually (or so he'll convince himself). If Xing is seriously harmed, belittled or beaten he will retreat to lick his wounds and later return, furious and all the more dangerous.

Hook: The players are in a small village or community in China where people much like they did centuries ago, they are living with a local family or are camped out on the outskirts of the village.

Line: One of the families asks the players to help them take care of their newborn baby. It seems like an odd request but they are resolute and strangely convincing, it seems there's more going on here than meets the eye.

Sinker: The family's baby is really a reborn Enlightened Immortal. In this state they are extremely vulnerable and in great danger. The "parents" and family are really other Enlightened Immortals and other mystically inclined characters, they have sensed that the child is in danger and rightly so. Bai Dong has found out about the child and sent Xing along with several other demons to deal with the child. By this time Xing is likely immortal himself and will command a number of demons suitable to give the characters a significant challenge.