Shen had followed the group, silently, on horses through the land.  During the days of travel, he did speak, but not often, and only when he thought it either appropriate, or when his areas of expertise – that of ghosts, exorcism, and the supernatural – were being discussed.  On that matter, Shen proved to be quite knowledgeable, and even told a few stories about a few exorcisms he had participated in.<br/><br/>His best story was the one of the rich family a few provinces over, who were being haunted by a pair of ghosts.  Their house was enormous, and Shen made sure to emphasize the long, empty corridors; the myriad of rooms; the potential of danger lurking around each corner.  Eventually, though, he – and he alone, confronted the ghosts.  Turned out they were a pair of sisters…and that dealing with them was a tad easier than he had expected.  The younger, prettier sister had been engaged to marry the son of the rich family, but she had fallen ill and died before the ceremony took place.  It was easy to convince her to move on – all he had to do was carry out the ceremony.  The older sister, however, had less of a pure motive – greed, for she would have benefitted from the marriage, and felt that the family had poisoned her sister to prevent her from claiming her part of the fortune.<br/><br/>In the end, it had been a simple case of divide and conquer.  The younger sister had waited indoors while, bronze mirror and willow sword in hand, Shen had confronted the older sister.  Fending her off with his willow sword, he used the power of the sun in the mirror to exorcise the ghost.  That done, he had then proceeded to perform the marriage ceremony between the young man and the younger sister, after which she, too, moved on.<br/><br/>Arriving on the dark road, Shen perked up when the peddler said that the road was haunted.  Keeping watch, he looked for ghosts and other supernatural beasties.  He was glad when the party came to the inn without incident.  Following the rest of the group inside, he merely nodded when Li introduced him, and then went over to go seat himself, and listen to his companions talk.<br/><br/>That changed, however, when the three men entered.  It sounded like they were part of a gang – bandits, or no, it didn’t matter to him – and that the young man wanted out, and the three men weren’t going to let him go.  Now, he might have owed them money…but it sounded like they intended to take it out of his hide instead of his purse.  And that would not do.  Standing up, keeping his sword just inches from his hand, he followed up Li’s threat with one of his own.<br/><br/>“Apologize, and leave, lest all the ghosts and demons of the Nine Hells descend upon your heads.”<br/>