The Three Storms
Rain, Thunder, and Lightning
Background
The Three Storms are a trio of Chinese Martial Artists who made a pact with Manitous in return for great power. Several centuries ago the three friends were born in the same village in the Canton province of China to poor farming parents. Many families in the village could not afford to look after their children and either married them off or in extreme cases gave them to their local lord as servants. These three boys were lucky and were instead given in to the care of Monks living in the mountains where they were looked after well. The children, whose names remain unknown, were taught to read and write, learned of Taoism, Buddhism and, of course, martial arts. Years later, when their temple was sacked by an invading Mongol horde and their tutors were slain, the now-grown lads were forced into slavery by the barbarians where their life took a turn for the worse. For months they were abused and beaten by their cruel masters and witnessed scenes of unimaginable attrocities commited by the Mongols and their leader, a young upstart by the name of Genghis Khan . Eventually the three decided they could no longer take this life of torment and would resort to anything to rid themselves of their captors. They drew on their experiences from their upbringing in the mountains and one night entered a trance like state to talk to their ancestors to seek guidance. The usual method for this was that their soul would enter the Hunting Grounds to talk to a Nature Spirit who would manifest as one of their ancestors and give them council. Unfortunately the trio were inexperienced at this ceremony and instead their souls got lost and wound up in the Deadlands, which appeared to them as a manifestation of the Chinese Hell of Upside-Down Torture!The three lads were in a bit of a predicament, their physical bodies slept on Earth in the Mongol camp while their souls were trapped in the Deadlands. The Reckoners were curious, however, and sent one of their manitous to talk to these lost souls. It saw in them their bitterness and hate for their captors and decided to trick them into giving up their very essence of goodness.
The manitou appeared as a Chinese Demon and said it would grant their mortal bodies great power and immortality and allow their consciousness' to return to their bodies if they promised to leave all that was good and whole about their soul here in the Deadlands.
Overcome with eagerness for revenge the three friends agreed. Their consciousness returned to their bodies but all that was good and moral in their soul was absent, forever trapped in the Hunting Grounds. The three who awoke from that slumber were different people altogether.
Now gifted with immortality and powers unsurpased by the most accomplished of Martial Artists the three smashed their chains and slaughtered the entire Mongol raiding party in their sleep using arcane powers and any weapons they could get their hands on. Only the young Mongol leader, Genghis, escaped - his mind forever plagued by that night's occurences.The scene of carnage and devastation was such that when the camp was found days later it was reported that a "Storm from the bowels of Hell" had swept through the area in punishment for the Mongol raiding party's attrocities.
The Three Storms had been named, and in the centuries that followed they wandered China working for corrupt gang bosses, Triads, and any organisation dealing in violence and intimidation until 1863 and the Reckoning. With this event they saw their powers become more readily avaliable and felt the calling from the Great Maze of California. They travelled East and came upon Shan Fan, where they settled into the chinese community and began working for a criminal organisation rumoured to be headed by the mysterious sorceror, Lo Pan.
The biggest of the three storms is "Thunder", a powerful, loud-mouthed warrior with bulging muscles and plenty of shout in his lungs. He has picked up a little English but rarely visits the streets of Shan Fan, instead guarding his lord, Lo Pan, loyally and without question. In combat he wears a woven hat to hide his appearance and uses a pair of Chinese daggers to rend and slash at his enemies. Thunder is by far the strongest and loudest of the Three Stroms, as befits his namesake. If he is ever defeated in combat he will inhale vast amounts of air and explode, showering all his adversaries in flesh and guts!
Statistics
COGNITION 3d6, KNOWLEDGE 3D6, MIEN 3D10, SMARTS 1D6, SPIRIT 4D10
Academia:Chinese History 2d6, Area:Shan Fan 2d6, Disguise 2d6, Language:Cantonese 2d6, Language:English 1d6, Leadership 2d10, Overwawe 4d10, Streetwise:Triads 2d6, Ch'i 5d10, Guts 5d10
DEFTNESS 2D8, NIMBLENESS 4D10, STRENGTH 3D12, QUICKNESS 4D10, VIGOR 4D12
Thrownin':Knife 4d8, Climbin' 2d10, Dodge 2d10, Fightin':Wing Chun 6d10
Fu Powers: Closing the Gate 4, Devastating Ape Strike 3, Jade King's Stance 3, Seize the Pearl of Death 5, Tiger Shakes His Mane 5, Wind Over Earth 4, Hell's Thunderclap 3
Edges 'N' Hindrances: Brawny (size 7), The Voice (+2 Overawe), Two Fisted (for his two knives), Martial Arts Training, Enlightened, Don't Get 'im Riled!
Vengeful, Ferner, Big Britches, Loyal (Lo Pan)
Gear: Twin Chinese daggers, like Bowie knives but with sharpened hand guards. He can attack with both of these at the same time, at -2 to each attack roll. Speed=1 Damage=STR+1d6 Defense Bonus=1. 2 Throwing Knives. Smart suit during buisiness hours, ancient Chinese combat outfit when partaking in less friendly activities.
Special Rules
Thunder can enhance his Strength by spending Ch'i points as if he had an extra Fu Power. Every Ch'i point spent adds +1 to all Strength rolls (including damage rolls) up to a maximum of 3d12+5. This effect lasts for 1 minute.If Thunder is ever killed he explodes in a shower of guts and intestines, causing 2d10 massive damage on anybody close to him, with a burst radius of 1 yard. He may also perform this last resort action at will by spending an entire round concentrating. He certainly knows how to go out with a bang...
This Storm is the most graceful and delicate of the Three. That's not to say that the long-haired Rain is a pushover in combat, far from it. He is a master of the Chinese sword and kills his opponents with a flurry of fluid cuts and swipes. He is also a dab hand at the bow, "raining" arrows down on his opponents with supernatural speed. Rain is a lithe fellow with smooth features. His physical poise is mirrored by his mental tranquility, never letting a situation unbalance his concentration. He is the most accomlished warrior of the three.
Statistics
COGNITION 3d8, KNOWLEDGE 3d6, MIEN 4d8, SMARTS 1d8, SPIRIT 4d8
Academia:Chinese Mythology 4d6, Area:Shan Fan 2d6, Language:Cantonese 2d6, Language:Ebglish 1d6, Disguise 2d6, Leadership 2d8, Obverawe 2d8, Streetwise:Triads 2d8, Ch'i 5d8, Guts 5d8
DEFTNESS 2d8, NIMBLENESS 3d12, STRENGTH 4d8, QUICKNESS 5d10, VIGOR 4d8
Bow 4d8, Climbin' 2d12, Dodge 4d12, Fightin':Shaolin Variant 7d12, Quickdraw:Sword 4d8
Fu Powers: Abundance of Pecking Birds 5, Cobra Strike 3, Fangs of the Serpent 3, Many Arms of the Spider 3, Monkey Goes to Mountain 5, Seize the Pearl of Death 5, Ten Foot Punch 3.
Edges 'N' Hindrances: Enlightened, Quick Thinker, Martial Arts Training, Eagle Eyes, Keen, Fleet Footed, Cautious, Ferner, My Kung Fu is Superior!, Style Vulnerable:Eagle Claw
Gear: Chinese Sword, Damage=STR+2d8 Defense Bonus=2 Speed=1. Smart suit & ancient Chinese warrior's outfit.
Special Rules
Cannot be hurt from a fall and always lands on his feet.
By spending 3 Ch'i points he can make it rain fairly heavily for 5 minutes. This power only works outdoors.
Lightning is the unofficial leader of the bunch, possesing by far the greatest Ch'i power. He has the power to transfer his inner Ch'i into streaks of lightning to fry his adversaries from afar. Whilst being an acomplished, if somewhat "showy", Martial Artist he lags behind his two companions in terms of actual skill in hand to hand fighting. He wears the standard straw hat and cape and also a light tunic of scale armour to help channel his lightning powers and it protects him from harm to a certain degree.
Statistics
COGNITION 2d6, KNOWLEDGE 2d6, MIEN 3d8, SMARTS 1d6, SPIRIT 4d12
Academia:Occult 2d6, Area:Shan Fan 2d6, Language:Cantonese 2d6, Leadership 4d8, Ch'i 5d12, Guts 4d12
DEFTNESS 2d8, NIMBLENESS 4d8, STRENGTH 3d10, QUICKNESS 4d10, VIGOR 4d8
Throwin':Blue Lightnin'4d8, Climbin' 2d8, Dodge 3d8, Fightin':Tai Ch'i 5d8
Fu Powers:Crumbling Dam 4, Jade King's Stance 3, Leopard and Her Cubs 5, Monkey Goes To Mountain 2, Seize the Pearl of Death, Righteous Reversal 4, Venom Punch 4
Edges 'N' Hindrances: Enlightened, Martial Arts Training, Sand 2, Knack:Tempest, Level Headed, Death Wish, Ferner, Loyal, The Cup Overflows.
Gear: Scale-Mail armoured shirt, (1 armour to guts, upper & lower), Ancient Chinese warrior outfit.
Special Rules
Lightning is immune to all electricity based attacks.
His Tempest power is the Black Lightnin' hex, only he spends Ch'i points rather than fate chips to activate it. 2 ch'i will activate the hex at the minimum hand. Every two ch'i after that raises it a hand higher up to a maximum of Flush. Lightning's Tempest power is not activated by mistake if he fails a surprise check. Also, the lightning is blue rather than black and is quite visible when flowing along his arms as he charges it up!
Game Notes
Some of you will recognise these characters from the film Big Trouble in Little China, which is all about Chinese sorcery and Martial Arts. Originally the film was intended to be a Western so it isn't hard to see how the characters would fit into the Weird West! The Storms are the suprnatural enforcers of the Wing Kong exchange, based in Shan Fan. This company imports itmes from the Orient and distributes them along the Maze. The company also has a more shady background and uses street crime to make extra cash. This often brings the Wing Kong into disputes with the local triads, who do not take too kindly to competition! The head of the Wing Kong is an old man by the name of Lo Pan who is rarely, if ever, seen by the public. The reason for this is that he is dead!He died several hundred years ago when he was a powerful warrior king and sorceror. When the manitous and spirits were banished from the Earth by the Old Ones his power diminished and he was killed by the population that he once ruled with an iron fist. His spirit was trapped in the Hunting Grounds and remained there until the Reckoning. At this point his spirit was somehow freed again when Raven opened the doorway to Hell and he reapeared on Earth as a ghost of his former self, only being able to physically manifest as a crippled old man.
He came accross the 3 Storms in the rapidly developing Shan Fan and the 4 made an alliance. The Storms are Lo Pan's protectors and shielded him from harm as he built up the Wing Kong exchange. He looks forward to the day that his body will be whole once again as the young warrior king and his powers returned. For this to happen he needs to marry a girl with green eyes and then sacrifice her to Jin-Dai, the God of the East (but the Reckoners will gladly accept the sacrifice in his stead...) and he will be restored to his former glory! What his first act will be is anybody's guess, but between himself and the three storms the Maze is in for a shock if his plan works... Now if that's not an adventure hook I don't know what is. Watch Big Trouble in little China and you'll get the idea, I reckon this film provided a little inspiration for The Great Maze boxed set anyhow so everything should be fully Deadlands compatible! Just remember that the Three Storms are powerful HTH combat adversaries, being almost immune to gunfire (hence the Seize Pearl of Death powers) and in posession of fantastic Fu Powers.