>>36377677
You should probably put a link to this thread in your twitter. That's the main reason people wanted you to get one.

File: Tiankong (Sky).jpg (229 KB, 1280x1024)

229 KB JPG

>>36377677
>Previously
After loosing your father to mysterious kidnappers, you set out on a journey to leave Nine Village Valley, which has sheltered you your entire life to find them, arriving after a four day boat journey into the Sichuan Basin, which is being wracked by lawlessness and army desertions due to the inactivity of the provincial governor.
The journey continues!

>>36377807
In the end you suppose it's just a question of math, you think as you quirk your head to the left and fold your arms in confusion.

It's been two days on the road since you set out from the fishing village you had saved from bandits before setting off on your way.

Your progress has been slowed somewhat; two MORE towns attacked by brigands or army deserters, one merchant wagon, and a wedded couple traveling north have been saved by your actions, but so far none of them have any idea about your Sifu or his kidnappers.

Food has been easy to come by; you can hunt and fish, and the merchant gave you some rice and sweet potatoes in payment.

You had settled down for a meal of self-caught fish you had left speared on a wooden stick to cook over a campfire while washing your clothes in the river (keeping your sword and money nearby).

When you had come back to camp, still shirtless with your saber slung under one arm, the math problem came up.

Namely, you had five fish cooking on the stick over the fire, you're pretty sure.

Now there are two.

>WDYD?

>Whatever, you can catch more fish, easy enough.

>"Wait a minute....."

>>36378056
>>"Wait a minute....."

>>36378056
>Wait a minute

Woo! I caught this one at the start. so psyched

>"Wait a minute....."

>>36378056
>"Wait a minute....."
Great Quest Incomiiiing

>>36378056
>>"Wait a minute....."

>>36378056
>>"Wait a minute....."
this and MAGE quest shit is good today

some great music for the journey a head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DhlUQdjxLA

>>36378087, >>36378128, >>36378215, >>36378218, >>36378251, >>36378285
You pause, your head still quirked to one side, and then sigh, closing your eyes.

Weird. You don't FEEL any presences nearby. Okay, different tactic then.

"I know you're there," you say abruptly, without opening your eyes or looking around, switching your sheathed saber to your off-hand, a clear visual threat.

You hear a sharp intake of breath near an outcropping of rocks by the river.

"Gotcha," you mutter as you leap into action darting towards them just as a figure blurs out and begins running for a copse of trees nearby!

You smirk; the thief is fast, but not nearly as fast as you are, and you steadily gain on him despite his impressive Lightfoot skills....right up until the thief steps on a bunch of fallen leaves in the trees and you hear an "eep!" from him, and a snare wraps around his foot, yanking him upside down, hanging helplessly from the trees!

>>36378638
The fish-thief hangs upside down by one leg. He's dressed in raggedy clothes that look like they were probably one pretty finely made, but now aren't much better then your home-made furs and clothes.

Also, he's a she.

The girl's long (weirdly-greenish?) hair falls down past her head as she struggles with the rope around her foot, trying to escape. She gives a "hurmph!" and stops, deciding to just....hang there and pout you suppose.

"How did you know I was there?" she asks, attempting to cross her arms upside down to match your cross-armed stance as you lean against the tree she is snared to.

"I didn't until you ran," you say, smirking. "You concealed your air perfectly. Nice trick," you compliment.

>>36378828
"Thanks," she says, accepting the compliment with a snide tone. For a second neither of you move.

"Well?! Aren't you going to cut me down?" she asks in a voice that is remarkably imperious for a thief caught in a rabbit snare.

"I'm trying to figure out why you didn't run away earlier," you say, looking around to see if she has any more allies in hiding. "I was pretty much helpless washing my shirt when you stole my fish, and you could've been gone well before I noticed the fish were missing. So why did you stick around?" You voice carries a suspicious edge to it, and you grip your sword tighter.

You gotta admit, her BLUSHING at the question is not the reaction you expected, nor is her looking away from you awkwardly. Maybe the blood is just rushing to her head from the snare.

"So....what now? Are you going to take advantage of a defenseless girl like a monster?" she asks defiantly.

>WDYD?

>Pretend to think about it and stroke your chin in thought just to freak her out. Serves her right.

>"That's some imagination you've got there."

>"First tell me if you're alone."

>>36379064
>>Pretend to think about it and stroke your chin in thought just to freak her out. Serves her right.

>>36379064
>Pretend to think about it and stroke your chin in thought just to freak her out. Serves her right.
then nah
>"That's some imagination you've got there."

>>36379064
>Pretend to think about it and stroke your chin in thought just to freak her out. Serves her right.

>"That's some imagination you've got there."

"I would never do that to a woman, even if they are stuningly beautiful" Grin at her.

>>36379064
>Pretend to think about it and stroke your chin in thought just to freak her out. Serves her right.
>"That's some imagination you've got there."

>>36379064
>>Pretend to think about it and stroke your chin in thought just to freak her out. Serves her right.

>>36379064
this because it funny >>36379211

>>36379292
No, it's stupid. Like you.

>>36379315
Calm down mate, just nod and ignore what bothers ye.

>>36379121, >>36379143 ,>>36379211, >>36379222, >>36379262

You look to the side and purse your lips, stroking your chin and going "hmmmm" as if in deep contemplation, and her eyes widen as she freaks out, clapping her hands together and closing her eyes.

"I'msorryI'msorryIwon'tdoitagainIpromise!" she stammers out quickly like a prayer to the Buddah.

You laugh, and shake your head.
"Relax, I'm kidding. That's some imagination you've got there anyway. Most armed folks probably wouldn't rape you if you stole their food."

"What?" she says, realizing you teased her, which annoys her further.

"Yeah, they'd probably just cut your hands off or something," you answer honestly, looking her up and down (or rather down and up).

She's got some kinda funny ink stain thing on her right thigh....you remember your father saying they were called "tattoos" but it's the first time you've ever seen one in person.

"Why do you have a drawing of a spider on your leg?" you ask curiously, unable to help yourself

"Are you checking out my legs?!" she asks, again annoyed.

"Why would I? Your legs are all scrawny like a spiders anyway," you say, heading over to the tree and drawing your sword.

That CLEARLY pisses her off, just as you intended it too.

"How DARE you speak to a lady like thatEEEP!" she says as you slice the rope and drop her in mid-sentence, giving a "heh" at her dismay.

You gotta admit, you'd have a lot more fun fighting bandits if they were this easy to mess with.

>>36379464
kill yourself, namefag.

>>36379633
I am forgetting to take off my name from the other quest I'm "QMing", mate.
Chill out

>>36379668
I'm sure it's as cancerous as you are.

>>36379701
Oh it definitely is son, hahaha.

That stick must hurt kid, just saying for your own good, nobody gets mad at it, you're just putting a douchey image for... nothing?
Play the game and chill yer nuts.

>>36379668
ignore him he is just a troll

File: 6268448400.jpg (68 KB, 526x300)

68 KB JPG

>>36379734
Learn how to write coherent sentences.

File: Zhu'er.jpg (472 KB, 680x750)

472 KB JPG

>>36379508
"Oow! Dammit, now my leg's asleep!" she says, massaging the leg with the spider tattoo.

"Yeah I know. It's why I left you hanging there. Makes it impossible for you to use Lightfoot techniques to run away," you say, finally revealing the REAL reason for your delay in cutting her down.

"So...what now?" she asks, looking up at you.

Actually, she's kinda cute once you get past her weird hair color. Even her NAILS are green. And you'd swear that under her skin the veins in her face seem kinda greenish too. Really, really strange.

"Were you here alone?" you ask seriously, not putting away your sword. She can conceal her presence somehow; she might be an agent of the people who took your father.

"What? Yes!" she says, indignant.

"Why steal my fish?" you wonder aloud. First thought that comes to mind is poison. If you were poisoned you could likely circulate your qi and force it out of your body, but you'd be helpless while you did it. Maybe THAT'S how they got your father, it makes sense!

"Because I was HUNGRY you idiot!" she barks out.

You blink in surprise.

"Oh...yeah, I guess that makes sense too," you say, feeling awkward yourself for once.

"So just ask next time," you say, turning and putting away your saber.

"Ask?"

"For the FISH, dimwit. I had five of them."

>WDYD?

>Invite the Stupid Girl over for food. Maybe she knows SOMETHING, even if she's dumb enough to get caught in her own snare and fall for your trick that scared her out earlier.

>"Now scram, I've gotta catch more food."

>>36379826
>>"Now scram, I've gotta catch more food."

>>36379826
>Invite the Stupid Girl over for food. Maybe she knows SOMETHING, even if she's dumb enough to get caught in her own snare and fall for your trick that scared her out earlier.


>>36379808
That's kinda hard while doing three things at once hahaha!
Thanks for pointing it out anyway.

>>36379826
>Invite the Stupid Girl over for food. Maybe she knows SOMETHING, even if she's dumb enough to get caught in her own snare and fall for your trick that scared her out earlier.

>>36379826
>>Invite the Stupid Girl over for food. Maybe she knows SOMETHING, even if she's dumb enough to get caught in her own snare and fall for your trick that scared her out earlier.

>>36379826
>>Invite the Stupid Girl over for food. Maybe she knows SOMETHING, even if she's dumb enough to get caught in her own snare and fall for your trick that scared her out earlier.
she might be able to teach us her trick to hide

>>36379894, >>36379932, >>36379933, >>36379946

"Come on," you say, heading back to your camp.

"What? Why?" she asks suspiciously.

"For FOOD, dimwit, I'm going to catch some more fish," you bark back, quickly loosing patience with her. You swear, you may not have known many girls but it is IMPOSSIBLE for them all to be this slow on the uptake.

"Oh! Coming!" she says, following you.

"You gotta name?" you say, looking back as you move towards the river. Better keep an eye on your money while she's around.

"Uh...Zhu...Zhu'er!" she stammers out, unconvincingly.

"Spider-Girl. Really." you say, in flat disbelief.

"Yes, really! Why, what's yours!" she shoots back.

"Tiankong," you answer honestly.

"Oh, and Sky makes so much more sense!" she snipes, unwilling to concede verbal defeat.

"It happens to be my name. At least I didn't think up mine; you thought up yours because the first thing I said about you was your spider-legs and tattoo," you point out. You're not a moron after all.

"Did NOT!"

File: Zhu'er 2.jpg (571 KB, 709x1043)

571 KB JPG

>>36380194
After a long and pointless argument that left you debating the merits of simply tying her back to the tree and leaving her there you find yourself perched on a rock by the riverside with your makeshift fishing pole held in one hand, while she sits next to you her mouth slightly open as she clutches her legs close to herself.

"You're drooling," you say off-handedly.

"What? No I'm not!" she says, reflexively wiping her mouth. She realizes she actually wasn't when you smirk, realizing you were teasing her again.

You flick your wrist slightly upon the sudden feel of a tug on the cord, and a fish goes flying through the air onto the shore!

Some time later the fish and potatoesd are cooking, and when you finally say they're ready she starts for them before you grab the stick away.

"Say 'please' first," you mock.

"Are you SERIOUS?"

"Said the fish-thief to the fisherman?"

".....Please may I have a fish," she says in the flatest and most irritated tone you can imagine.

"Sure, go for it," you say, and before your sentence finishes she grabs the stick and begins wolfing it down.

>WDYD?

>"What are you even doing out here without food anyway?"

>"Why are you GREEN?"

>Ask about your father.

>>36380460
>Ask about your father.
then
>"What are you even doing out here without food anyway?"
then
>"Why are you GREEN?"

>>36380460
>>Ask about your father.

>>36380460

>"Why are you GREEN?"

>>36380460

>"What are you even doing out here without food anyway?"

>"Why are you GREEN?"

>Ask about your father.

All of the above

>>36380460

>"What are you even doing out here without food anyway?"

>"Why are you GREEN?"

>Ask about your father.

And here you run into the phenomena of retards being unable to actually decide on anything.

>>36380460
>"What are you even doing out here without food anyway?"
>"Why are you GREEN?"
>Ask about your father.

>>36380639
The options appear to be mutually inclusive, anon.

>>36380669
And? They're still distinct choices.

>>36380639
Not really, we're giving prioritized action trees. Clearly "why are you out here if you can't forage for yourself" is our primary pick and if that one action opens up more dialogue we'll stop there and select new options. However, if following that primary choice just leads us back to the other diologue options we might as well save time and let OP start writing the next bit rather than taking ten minutes to vote on the same thing again.

>>36380724
>prioritized action trees
>three of the votes are copy pasted directly from the options presented

suuuure you are.

>>36380724
Why are you green is my prioritized pick

>>36380710
Do you not know what mutually inclusive means?

It means we can select all of them, being distinct has nothing to do with it.

>>36380754
Hey, I'm on a mobile and can't copy paste. Not my fault that OP listed the option in the order I would have asked.

>>36380798
>"Why are you GREEN?"

It's an excellent question.

>>36380798
Do you know what distinct means?

It means they are still different and lead to different places. Which you can't decide between because you're a gigantic faggot.

>>36380766
And there's nothing wrong with that. I'm just more interested in why she's out in the woods stealing food from hprandom strangers.

>>36380832
>It means they are still different and lead to different places
The first yes, the second, not so much, or at least, not to a place we can't ask the other two questions.

>Which you can't decide between because you're a gigantic faggot.
I didn't even vote, and if that's the best reason you have for why I should stick to one option on something that appears to be mutually inclusive, then this argument is over.

>>36380870
>declares victory
indeed it is.

>>36380889
Congratulations, you've won an internet argument.

>>36380460

>"What are you even doing out here without food anyway?"

>"Why are you GREEN?"

>Ask about your father.

>>36380832
Yes they do, but then we go back to talking fuckface.

It's a conversation more than one question is asked.
GET THAT AROUND YOUR FUCKING GORILLA HEAD

>>36380848
What if she's green because that girl is poison? We could go to share a fish and then be dead. This is high priority information.

>>36380460
"Are you that girl that was on the run from that pack of thugs?" It's a small world so maybe there's a chance since both they and she are connected to our side of the world.

Btw WulinSage think you can make a pastebin sometime with all the various terms and meanings after they come up in game?

File: rustle.png (256 KB, 494x359)

256 KB PNG

>>36380919
you must be great to be behind in subways.
>I'll have literally everything
>THEY'RE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE

>>36380460
>"What are you even doing out here without food anyway?"

>"Why are you GREEN?"

>Ask about your father.

>>36381049

I kekked.

>>36381049
Aren't toppings free at Subways?

If so, yeah, I'd probably get literally everything on my sub.

>>36380499, >>36380517, >>36380538, >>36380541

"So, you can't fish and I'm guessing you can't hunt," you say as you peel away the potato skin.

"Yeah? What of it?" she says, clearly much less irritable now that she's wolfing down bites of fish.

"Why are you even out here then?"

"Ran away from home," she answers straight-forwardly. There's a shocker.

"Why?"

"Trying to marry me off to this guy I hate," she explains casually.

"That's pretty cruel of them."

"That's what I thought!" she says, glad to have someone agreeing with her position.

"Yeah, imagine what it would be like for that poor guy actually meeting you in person," you continue without changing your tone.

She whacks you on the fingers with her food-stick eliciting an "ow!" from you in-between your chuckling.

"You think you're so smart," she mutters under her breath.

"Smart enough to catch a fish-thief, sure," you say lightly.

She mumbles something you can't hear, going back to her fish.

"So why are you GREEN anyway?"

"You just....come out and ask a woman that huh?" Zhu'er says, obviously unused to someone so forward and blunt. You bet her family was rich.

"I think it's a legitimate question. Pretty sure I would've heard if women in Sichuan were green, seems like it'd be hard to miss," you say dryly.

"It's....my kungfu," she admits eventually.

"Your...kungfu makes you green," you say, obviously not following.

>>36381049
I often eat all the salads yes, kek.

But really, you must suck at conversations, since you can only have ONE SUBJECT.
Seriously, questions aren't mutually exclusive, they're all good so why not ask them all? Normal people tend to speak more than one phrase during conversations, how are we limited to one question during one?

Oh because Mr. Down Syndrome here can't get the concept.
Just go back to your hellpit

>>36380923
One, why would we eat someone else's half eaten fish when we aren't starving. That's disgusting.

Two, that is a good point but I think her literally being poison probably would come up as a reason for her living alone in the woods, not green hair etc. That she can just brush off.

File: boohoo.jpg (42 KB, 388x384)

42 KB JPG

>>36381158
>waaah someone is calling me out on my complete lack of decision making capability

>>36381169
but anon

She'll drive us right out of our mind
And steal our heart when we're blind
Beware she's schemin', she'll make us think we're dreamin'
WE'LL fall in love and we'll be screamin', demon, HOO...

>>36381144
Heh, sky is a bit of a dick but I like him anyway.

>>36381200
hahah, yah sure mate.
>decision making
"So anon you can marry all these 5 hot ladies at once, what do you do?"
"Marry just one, I need to make this decision"
"But it doesn't work like that you can choose multi..."
"Don't MATTER!"

>>36381247
Oh, you're the retarded namefag who can't write. That explains it.

>>36381268
Oh, you're just the trolling anon from earlier.

Also, multiple people have had an issue with you, not just him.

>>36381268
You can leave now anon, everybody got it, you're a dick.

>>36381309
>multiple people are retarded
>on 4chan
shocking

>>36381325
Nah, pointing out your stupidity is far too amusing.

OHOHOHO YOKO YOU SLY DOG

DO WE HAVE TO LOSE A HAND TO GET THIS GIRL?

>>36380981
Looks like somebody knows a wuxia cliche when he sees one...
Also, good idea, that might help for people not familiar with the genre. I will admit wuxia (including this story) gets pretty jargon-heavy admittedly.
>>36381213
He was raised in the mountains by a single hermit father; his manners and mastery of etiquette are minimal at best.
>>36381144
"Yeesh," she says, through a mumbled mouthful.

"....why?" you say, unable to help yourself.

She swallows, looking perplexed.

"My qi is heavily Aligned," she says, which of course doesn't explain anything to you.

"Come again?"

"My qi. How...wait, how do you not know this stuff?" she wonders, clearly more confused then you are.

"My Sifu gave me a narrow education. So why?" you ask, eating your potato.

"Well....normally Qi itself has no alignment, as the body is composed of all Five Elements; Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal," she points out.

"Yeah, Wu-Xing Theory, I know the basics of that," you note. Your father didn't mention it could affect your kungfu though.

"Well, but focusing through special exercises and sometimes diets on a single Element in the body instead of just one you can push the balance of the elements in your body slightly out of it's natural alignment. This makes qi used for specific situations or forms much more effective by sort of 'purifying' the aspect of qi that the style or form draws most of it's power from most efficiently. There's side effects, obviously, as your body isn't naturally built to have it's energy so heavily aspected in one direction. My hair, nails, and eyes are a side-effect of my Aligned Chi," she says, reciting the entire thing all at once.

>>36381588

So her armpit hair is also green?

>>36381588
Huh, so that -is- what aligned chi is. I was wondering if 'elemental chi' from Legends of the Wulin was just for the game system or a real thing in the Wuxia genre.

Alright, so her chi's out of balance and she's mutated. Makes sense.

>>36381664
Curtains, drapes, pretty sure it all matches up.

>>36381723
Nice.

>>36381588
By the way, any good wuxia works to recommend?:

>>36381771
Pretty much anything Jin Yong ever wrote. His writing is kind of the defining work for the modern incarnation of the genre. It's near impossible to escape his influence on it.

>>36381771
Not the GM, but I'd suggest the Iron Monkey film. Protagonist is basically ancient Chinese Robin Hood, and also a doctor.

First Wuxia film I ever saw, and watched it as a kid. It's quite good.

>>36381808
>>36381828
Thanks mates.

>>36381828
It also leads nicely into all the Wong Fei Hung stories (Once upon a Time in China etc), he's a child in Iron Monkey if I remember right. Not quite ancient Wuxia since it was mid 1800s to early 1900s era but still has some good stories.

File: Zhu'er Three.jpg (699 KB, 1000x1000)

699 KB JPG

>>36381664
Yeah, any and all body hair she'd grow is green. Her nails are green as well because keratin from hair and nails are the same material essentially, though nobody in this world knows what "keratin" is anyway so they consider it a separate side-effect.
>>36381722
In a lot of wuxia stories forcefully putting your body out of balance in some way gives you great power at a cost.
>>36381771
Depends on your definition of "Great". Chinese storytelling is radically different from Western storytelling, so it puts some people off. That said, the Condor Hero Trilogy by Jin Yong is legendary, effectively the genre's Lord of the Rings. They've been adapted so many times it's nearly impossible to list them all. Here's the 2008 live-action series on youtube, which is pretty good.
https://www.youtube.com/user/uploadshishistuf/search?query=Legend+of+Condor+Heroes
>>36381828
Iron Monkey is also good. Donnie Yen is a fucking badass.
>>36381588
"Hmm...," you say in thought as you eat, looking straight at her.

You re-evaluate your opinion of her. So she's NOT stupid, just knows nothing about a surviving in the wilderness alone. She's pretty educated in kungfu matters too. You've put together several things about her already, but you don't have enough context to draw conclusions yet, so you'll sit on them for now.

"Wh-what?" she says, self-consciously stroking her dark green hair. "Does it look that ugly?"

"Hmm? No, not really. I was just kinda staring into space you happen to be occupying while thinking," you explain, finishing your potato and going for another fish while handing another to her.

>>36381975
>this channel does not exist

>>36381975
Will look into it. I think I managed to find the videos you tried to link too.

>>36382012
>>36382039
Yeah I found the channel. Just search for legend of the condor hero and look for uploadshishisuff as the uploader. Looks like I'm going to be plenty distracted in the coming weeks.

>>36382152
>360p
Welp, it was a good thought, but no way am i sitting through something that'll make my eyes bleed.

Be right back after a brief break.

>>36382250
The quality is pretty good mate, at least the one I found.

>>36381975
"So why are YOU out here then?" Zhu'er asks as she takes the fish.

"Looking for someone," you admit. "Haven't seen a tall man with unkept hair and a beard while you were out here? Maybe traveling with a group under guard?" you inquire.

"No, sorry," she apologizes with a shrug.

"Why? Who is he to you?" she asks, tilting her head to the side.

>WDYD?

>Truth

>Lie

>Be Vague.

>>36382639
>>Truth
No need to lie.

>>36382639
>>Truth

>>36382639
>>Be Vague.

>>36382639
>Truth
Well so long as the truth doesn't involve naming our style.

>>36382639
>Truth
Might as well. No real point in lying about this.

>>36382639
>Truth

>Be Vague.

No reason to lie, but no reason to tell her everything either. We don't know what enemies our father made.

>>36382639
>Be Vague

>>36382639
Truth

>>36382639
>Truth
Might have heard something.

>>36382656, >>36382659, >>36382665, >>36382669, >>36382712, >>36382859,
"He's my Father. And Sifu," you admit, seeing no real harm in it.

"Why would your father be under guard? Is he a criminal of some kind?"

You're about to refute this but you realize you can't actually answer for sure. You don't know enough about his past life to know.

"I doubt it. It seems more likely some old enemy he made who came back to haunt him even after he removed himself from worldly troubles," you explain.

"But you don't know for sure?"

You look at her briefly, pausing before you bite into the fish and answer.

"You don't need to know who someone WAS to know who they ARE."

She's silent at that, obviously thinking on it.

"Well, what clan or sect are you from then?"

"No clan or sect. It was just me and him. We trained in the mountains and he never even left to interact with people," you explain.

She frowns, and you can see something's bothering her.

"What?"

"Well...usually when someone retires from the Wulin they don't teach or perform kungfu anymore," she says, as if reluctant to speak of it.

"What do you mean?"

"Some people rather then continue participating in matters of the Wulin publicly announce their retirement, inviting even old enemies as well as friends in the Golden Bowl Ceremony. The warrior then washes his hands in a golden bowl to symbolize his leaving the Wulin entirely, to practice kungfu and improve his skills no more, and to live out his life as a normal person, most often with family. This generally means students won't seek them out, old enemies won't hold grudges anymore, and allies won't ask for assistance. Not everyone respects this tradition though," she explains in detail.

"So?"

"So, if you father was still training and teaching you kungfu, he never officially retired...or if he did he broke tradition. In any case it sounds like he was either hiding from his old enemies while still teaching you, so in some ways an attack on him is to be expected.

>>36383192
"Are you saying his being taken was...JUSTIFIED somehow?" you say, clenching your fist and staring into the campfire.

"Justice is...subjective," she says, unsure of what to say to you.

"To participate in the Wulin is to risk your body and soul in combat, to have rivals and allies, lovers and foes. Conflict is what we are by our very nature as xia, and defines us as individuals. Revenge is so common a motivator in the Wulin as to be accepted in some ways. Your father must have had a grudge he hadn't resolved before he lived with you," her voice is very matter-of-fact. She isn't describing to you a theory; this is the reality of the Martial Brotherhood, the Wulin.

"....who could possibly hold onto a grudge against someone who hadn't interacted or been seen by anyone at all for twenty years? Is it even possible to hate someone that much?" you ask no one at all.

The concept strains your belief, as you simply can't imagine holding onto hate that long....until you remember how you felt when you realized your father was gone.

How would you have felt if you found his BODY rather then realized he was taken?

"Yes," she says suddenly, and you look up at the different tone in her voice. Her eyes are also staring into the campfire. They're dull with something like regret and sadness, a wall-eyed gaze free of any positive emotion whatsoever.

Your both silent as the only sounds in the night are your campfire and the river nearby.

"I'm going to sleep," you say suddenly, shaking it off. None of this changes your goal.

"Take a few of the sweet potatoes if you want when you leave, just don't touch anything else," you say, taking your traveling blanket and wrapping yourself in it before lying down and closing your eyes.

Your dreams, predictably, are troubled ones.

>>36383452
"Ba....," you mumble upon awakening, shaking yourself out of your slumber early the next morning, before you again remember where you are and what's happened.

You look around, and see your saber still nearby, as well as your traveling pack.

"Well, at least she didn't try to steal my stuff," you say as you stretch, before you hear splashing by the river.

Kneeling down next to it is Zhu'er, her hair in the water as she carefully washes it with her hands.

>WDYD?

>"I'm surprised you're still here."

>"I thought spiders hated water?"

>Say nothing. It's her business if she wants to stay or not. Hells, she might be thinking of robbing you later (or trying anyway).

>>36383546
>>"I thought spiders hated water?"

>>36383546
>>"I'm surprised you're still here."
no need to be a dick

>>36383546
>>"I'm surprised you're still here."

>>36383546
>"I thought spiders hated water?"

>>36383546
>"I thought spiders hated water?"

>Say nothing. It's her business if she wants to stay or not. Hells, she might be thinking of robbing you later (or trying anyway).

Let's just get a move on.

>>36383546
>>"I'm surprised you're still here."

>>36383546
>Say nothing. It's her business if she wants to stay or not. Hells, she might be thinking of robbing you later (or trying anyway).

>>36383546
>"I'm surprised you're still here."

>>36383546
>"I thought spiders hated water?"
Let's keep up the banter.

>>36383546
>>"I thought spiders hated water?"

>>36383546
>"I'm surprised you're still here."

>all these faggots trying to waifu the first thing with a vagina they see

>>36383638
>This faggot is still trolling

>>36383650
>still
Because anon is one person, amirite?

>>36383546
>>"I thought spiders hated water?"

>>36383554, >>36383573, >>36383579, >>36383583, >>36383590, >>36383602, >>36383616, >>36383621, >>36383622, >>36383625


"Hmm," you say loudly enough to hear, and she glances up, realizing you're awake.

"I thought spiders were afraid of water?" you quip lightly before going down to the river to fill your waterskin yourself.

"Oh, you think you're SO witty don't you?" she says, unamused by your humor.

"Nah," you say, shaking your head. "It would be 'wit' if it was actually HARD to make fun of you. You pretty much make a mockery of yourself without my help at all."

"Rrrgh!" she grumbles, flipping her weirdly-toned tresses back and splashing water in your direction, which you dodge lightly.

"I'm surprised you're still here," you admit, packing up your things.

"Why wouldn't I be?" she says, irritated now. "You've given me more food then I've had since I ran from home and haven't given me decent reasons to leave yet."

"Despite my constant attempts to do so," you say, smirking again.

"Where are we going anyway?" she asks, walking up alongside you.

"Oh, it's 'we' now, huh?"

"Do you ever actually give straight answers without joking first?"

"To you?"

"Fine, BE that wa-" she begins angrily before you interrupt her.

"Chengdu," you admit, belting your blade around your torso. "I'm going to Chengdu. The kidnappers were head in the direction as far as I can tell, and that's as good a place to start looking as any."

"Huh," she says calming down and thinking. "i guess that makes sense. There's going to be a lot of xia there for the tournament, so it'd be easy to get information without drawing much suspicion."

"Tournament?"

She blinks. "You're kidding, right?"

"No."

"The....the tournament to decide the current Top Ten Young Heroes in the Wulin? Practically anyone and everyone under twenty-five will be trying to get in, and even more will be going to watch," she explains, unsure if you're making fun of her or not. "The Yuan Clan of Sichuan offered to host it."

>>36384047
How common are wia that can level mountains when they fight?

>>36384080
You have no idea, unfortunately.
>>36384047
"Hm. That DOES sound like a good plan," you say, thinking on it.

"Wait, you mean you were just going to head to Chendgu without even a solid plan to figure out where to start looking? Do you even know how BIG Chengdu is?" she asks, incredulous.

"No, but I didn't have a lot of other options either, so I worked with what I had."

"....Okay, that settles it. I'm coming with you to keep you out of trouble," she says firmly.

"Seeing as you're a thief I think you're more likely to get me INTO trouble, don't you think?"

"Maybe not. You're the only person who's ever caught me before."

"Not actually making a stronger case for yourself with that comment...,"

>>36384080
My guess? Nonexistent to pretty fucking rare, but they probably exist. A handful, at most.

>>36384047
The Top Ten Young Heroes Tournament? Excellent, I love that trope. We are probably not one of them, though. Sky knows a bit of swordplay, some Lightfoot and two (admittedly fairly powerful) internal techniques. We could probably make it past the first round, but no farther. So let's not enter, just work the crowd instead.

>>36384209
Can we ask our new thief waifu that question, then?

>>36384229
On the contrary, we've been raised from birth in martial arts. Literally the only breaks from training Sky got were to go into town to get rice and food and other supplies.

In other words, Sky's badass.

>>36384209
>Do you even know how BIG Chengdu is?
Of course I know it's big -- it's gotta have three, four hundred people maybe. But sooner or later we're bound to run into someone who knows something, right?

>>36384261
Sure, he's badass. The fact that the narrative just glossed over "oh, and you saved another two towns, it's no big deal" is evidence of that. But there are plenty of other xia who have similar backstories, and have been out and active in the world for longer than he has, gaining experience. Hell, Sky's never been in a real fight with another xia yet, just practice sparring with his father who quite clearly went easy on him. He still has a long way to go before he can count himself amongst the best of the generation.

>>36384269
>four hundred people maybe
You're kidding, there's no way villages that big exist. Maybe except the capital, they do say that it is really really big.

>>36381771

I can recommended Zhu Mountain saga, Warrior of the Wind and Cloud (Both movies and tv series)

Legend Of Condor Heroes for classic Andy Lau, sentient giant eagle as mount and MILF Kungfu teacher as Lover.

Dragon Slaying Sword (To Liong To) also good.

For manhua, try Blood and Steel for gritty Wuxia, or anything from Tommy Wong for batshit insane DBZ scaling Wuxia, aka Chinese Shonen but with insane quotes and general Chinese wackyness

>>36383638

> Wuxia and waifuing is separate matters
> LaughingYoko.jpg

>>36384320
No man, I heard from someone whose cousin lives three days down the river. A caravan came through there once and the driver said it really is that big.

>>36384080

Which universe? Condor heroes none, Zhu mountain almost everyone and their aunt, Wind and Cloud several dude (especially Sword Saint, fucker fight by projecting his Qi and beat the shit of everyone 1.000 Li away)

>>36384427
And it never works out. It only ever leads to pain for the protagonist. Name one wuxia romance that doesn't have horrible things happen to one or both parties to it. Either they die, or are tortured, or imprisoned, or torn apart by feuding clans, or kill each other in some murder/suicide/duel thing. It's not worth it.

>>36384492

Yoko only got his left arm gone, oh and his lover dead IIRC. Its not bad, considering.

More modern Wuxia has happy ever after endings (Ip man is Wuxia?)

>>36384492
Sounds like a story, so let's wuxia waifu.

>>36384209, >>36384232

"Look, I'm going to follow you anyway, so we might as well travel together, right?"

"Like a spider that's hard to brush off your clothes...," you mumble, looking away as you turn to walk.

"What was that?" she says, starting to follow you.

"I said 'if you're coming then get your skinny ass moving'."

"Mmmmooh!" she grumbles as she follows you on foot.

An hour or two into the walk, you suddenly ask her a question.

"Hey...hypothetically, how powerful can a xia become?" you ask. It's something you've never considered before.

"Hypothetically?" she says, shrugging. "I don't know. It's supposed to in theory never stop growing in power and skill as long as you keep training and challenging yourself, but eventually people die of old age, even if their bodies are powerful from qi," she says.

"So, they could be powerful enough to flatten mountains or blow apart towns or something?"

"Well, I guess, but it's usually almost impossible to tell just how strong a xia is until you fight them yourself or see them fight. There's always rumors, but a lot of xia are really terrible braggarts so it's hard to tell lies from facts, especially when a lot of the most powerful clan and sect leaders don't really fight that much. I can't even remember when Abbot White Cloud of the Shaolin Temple was publicly known to be in a fight," she admits.

You give a non-committal "hmm" at that.

"Oh, the Shaolin Temple is-" she begins and you interrupt her.

"I KNOW what the Shaolin Sect is, give me SOME credit," you say in an irritated tone.

You do not however mention that you had no idea who it's head abbot was...or even that it had a head abbot.

File: 735452-622efb1a14671c0882(...).jpg (176 KB, 1194x668)

176 KB JPG

>>36384542
It takes the better part of your early morning to see Chengdu, and eventually you meet up with a large group of people heading there.

As you approach the city gates later in the day, you realize exactly HOW much you underestimated the size of Sichuan's provincial capitol, and how difficult it would be to find ANYTHING here without knowing people or your way around first.

You're not telling Zhu'er that of course though.

"Hmph. Chengdu, huh?" you say, trying to sound unimpressed.

"Yep," the spider-girl says, smiling at your attempt to keep your composure.

"So where to first?"

>WDYD?

>Find a place to stay.

>FOOOOD!

>Check out where this tournament thing will be going down.

>>36384781
>>Find a place to stay.

>>36384781
>>Find a place to stay.

>>36384781
>Find a place to stay.
Lodgings first, we may be here at least a few days.

>>36384781
>>FOOOOD!
Let's take care of the essentials.

>>36384781
>Find a place to stay.

>>36384781
>>Find a place to stay.
we need a place to collect our thoughts

>>36384781
>>Check out where this tournament thing will be going down.

>>36384781
Holy shit, that's gotta be, like... 600 people, at least.

>Find a place to stay

>>36384781
>find a place to stay.

>>36384781
>>Find a place to stay.
>>FOOOOD!

File: 300px-後藤分銅1.jpg (19 KB, 300x217)

19 KB JPG

>>36384790, >>36384793, >>36384799, >>36384845, >>36384854, >>36384898, >>36384941

You ask Zhu'er if she knows of any decent-sized inns to stay in the city while here, and she gives a quick answer....which gives a bit more information on her to draw conclusions from.

You marvel at the sheer SIZE of the city as you move through it, seeing a bewildering array of people here, and keeping your eyes on everything that's going on seems impossible, so you simply try to stay alert and use your internal senses to pick out threats.

The inn you arrive at is a four-story building, and it's crowded with people...and from the look and feel of them, quite a bit of them are xia like yourself, coming in an even more diverse variety of people then even the regular folks outside.

Zhu'er seems to be admiring your reactions, so you try to give her as little ammunition as possible as you move through up to the main counter.

"Hello Young Sir!" the man at the front says, bowing. "Can I get you a room and a table?"

"Yes to both. Is this enough?" you ask, reaching into you bag and handing him a silver tael coin.

"VERY generous Young Sir! I shall prepare a room and table right away!" he says, waving you over to an open one.

"Hey," Zhu'er says, as you both sit down. "Where'd you get so much money?"

"Hmm?" you say, more engrossed in watching all the xia. You can't help but wonder how you'd fare against them.

"The silver! You said you came from Nine Village Valley and I've never even heard of that place, so how'd someone from the country get so much money?" she demands.

>WDYD?

>Truth: you really have no idea how much money it IS

>Lie: Better not talk with a thief overmuch about cash.

>Be Vague and Tease Her: It'll get her off the subject anyway. She's easy to distract.

>>36385091
>Be Vague and Tease Her: It'll get her off the subject anyway. She's easy to distract.

>>36385091
>>Truth: you really have no idea how much money it IS
MIght be best for us to understand just how much value we are carrying around.

>>36385091
>>Truth: you really have no idea how much money it IS

>>36385091
>>Truth: you really have no idea how much money it IS

>>36385091
>>Truth: you really have no idea how much money it IS
she might just try to rob us but we would learn the exact value of it

>>36385091
>>Be Vague and Tease Her: It'll get her off the subject anyway. She's easy to distract.

>>Truth: you really have no idea how much money it IS

HahawowDAMNIT Sky!

Also, damnit Sifu! You should've taught Sky how real life works!

>>36385091
>>Be Vague and Tease Her: It'll get her off the subject anyway. She's easy to distract.
Let's play coy for now. We need to figure out how much we are actually blowing. Being overgenerous is rather conspicuous.

>>36385091
>Be Vague and Tease Her: It'll get her off the subject anyway. She's easy to distract.

>>36385091
>Truth: you really have no idea how much money it IS

>>36385091
>>Truth: you really have no idea how much money it IS

>>36385091
>>Truth: you really have no idea how much money it IS

>>36385091
>Truth: you really have no idea how much money it IS

>>36385127, >>36385128, >>36385129, >>36385135, >>36385190,>>36385249, >>36385255, >>36385314, >>36385376

"My father left it. I guess it was saved up or something," you say.

"How much?"

"About fifty of those silver coins," you say off-handedly.

You're pretty sure if this was a different genre she'd have fallen off her chair after you said that.

"F....FIFTY?" she says loudly and the whole room looks over at you.

"Quiet, we're in a public place!" you admonish.

"Forty silver taels is a FORTUNE Sky!" she whispers quietly. "You know strings of one hundred cash coins you pay for NORMAL things with?"

"Mm?" you say, nodding.

"Well it takes TEN of those to equal even ONE silver tael, and ten of THOSE to make up a single gold tael! You can use gold taels to purchase things like, like....entire ships or palaces or equip a personal guard with high quality weapons and armor!"

"Oh," is all you can say, your eyebrows rising.

"'Oh'?! That's...that's all you've got? 'Oh'?! I can't believe I just stole FISH from you!"

"Well technically you never even managed to do that, seeing as I caught you."

"I got caught MYSELF, in some stupid old hunter's snare!"

"You were slow enough as it is, I'd have caught you. The snare just makes you slow AND dumb," you help clarify.

"You are UNBELIVABL-" she says, raising her voice and you hear an "Ahem" next to your table.

A man in red-colored clothes with white linings and a headband about your age is standing next to you, with a saber cross over his shoulder, though a much wider type of saber then yours, a niuweidao.

"Sorry to interrupt your little lover's spat," he begins,

"She's not my lover,"
"He's NOT my lover!"

"But you guys took my table just now. And my room," he notes.

>WDYD?

>"We just took the one he showed us to,"

>"Sorry, and you are?"

>"Hold on, we're in the middle of something here."

>>36385578
>>"We just took the one he showed us to,"

>>36385578
>>"We just took the one he showed us to,"

>>36385578
>>"Sorry, and you are?"
How rude, how about some introductions first?

>>36385578
>>"We just took the one he showed us to,"

>>36385578
>"We just took the one he showed us to,"
I'm sure we can work things out amicably, it was not our intent to impose on him.

>>36385578
>"Hold on, we're in the middle of something here."

>>36385578
>"We just took the one he showed us to,"

>>36385578
>>"We just took the one he showed us to,"
its a wait and see thing

>>36385578

>"Hold on, we're in the middle of something here."

>>36385578
>"Oh, I see."
Just that, never breaking eye contact

>>36385601, >>36385607, >>36385622, >>36385640, >>36385668, >>36385687, >>36385690

"Oh, really? Huh," you say, shrugging.

His eye twitches. "That's it?"

"We just took the one he showed us to, pal."

"And I TRIED to explain but he said it was the last room and that you paid too much and that he doesn't want to loose you as a customer," he says, frowning.

"Well, sorry. All I did was pay, the rest is up to the owner."

"I'll fight you for it."

Zhu'er's eyes suddenly dart between the pair of you, alert and....curious you think?

"Are you serious?" you say, not quite believing.

"What? You're a xia, I'm a xia. I'll fight you for it. You need it to be official or something?" he says opening his arms in a "come on and try me" gesture with a grin on his face.

>WDYD?

>Well if he wants to fight THAT badly, you can oblige. Harmless match couldn't hurt.

>Just ignore this guy.

>Forget the room and find a new place.

>>36385842
>>Well if he wants to fight THAT badly, you can oblige. Harmless match couldn't hurt.

>>36385842
>>Just ignore this guy.
"Yeah... I don't want to."

>>36385842
>>Just ignore this guy.
senseless fights are just that

>>36385842
>>Just ignore this guy.

>>36385842
>Well if he wants to fight THAT badly, you can oblige. Harmless match wouldn't hurt

>>36385842
>Well if he wants to fight THAT badly, you can oblige. Harmless match couldn't hurt.

>>36385842
>Just ignore this guy.
Get back to arguing with the waiting.

>>36385931
*waifu. The waifu. Damn you autocorrect.

>>36385842
>>Just ignore this guy.
Fight? For a room? Our sifu would call that frivolous.

>>36385842
>just ignore this guy

>>36385842
...While fights in Wuxia can be for extremely petty reasons, this, uh...

...Yeah, if he wants to challenge us for the room? He better wager something in return. That or insult us. But insulting people just to get them to fight you has a tendency of biting you in the ass.

>>36385842
>Other
"How about we share the room and the table. Probably enough room for all of us, right? Besides, safer with more able bodies around."

>>36385842
>Just ignore this guy.
Not our problem.

Besides, only a fool would wager something for nothing.

>>36385857, >>36385884, >>36385898, >>36385931, >>36385972, >>36385983, >>36386088

"Nah. I don't feel like it," you decide.

"Are...you serious?" the saberman says, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, just take it up with the owner. I'm sure he can spot you a new room or something."

"I'm offering you a challenge and you're just brushing it off like it's nothing?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I haven't eaten anything today I guess."

"Oh. Okay. Well...mind if I buy you a drink then?" he asks curiously.

You blink at that. "You can afford to buy me a drink, but not afford a new room?"

"What? No, of course I can afford a new room. It's just the principle of the thing, you know. How can a xia know his strength without challenging other xia?"

".....I have no idea," you admit, not quite grasping the concept. "But why the drink?"

"I wanna know what your deal is, and if you're not gonna fight me then drinking with you is the best way to find out,"

>WDYD?

>Refuse. What's this guy's problem anyway?

>Sure, if he wants to buy you a drink that's his business you guess.

>>36386115
>>Sure, if he wants to buy you a drink that's his business you guess.

>>36386115
>Sure, if he wants to buy you a drink that's his business you guess.

>>36386115
>>Sure, if he wants to buy you a drink that's his business you guess.
and order food, too

>>36386115
>Sure, if he wants to buy you a drink that's his business you guess.
Yeah, sure, why not?

>>36386115
>Sure, if he wants to buy you a drink that's his business you guess.
We must gather our party before venturing forth in true rpg tradition.

It's late for me at the moment, but make your votes and I'll pick up the quest tomorrow.
If the quest thread dies, I'll re-ask the question then as well.

>>36386203
good night

>>36386203
Oh, and before I forget; I'll do my best to answer any questions to clarify certain weird tropes or stuff that happens in Wuxia fiction.

Specifics pertaining to Sky's quest and storyline might not have exact answers, because Sky's knowledge pool is somewhat limited at the moment, but I'll do my best anyway.

>>36386115
>Sure, if he wants to buy you a drink that's his business you guess.

>>36386203
Good night and thanks for running. This quest is awesome.

>>36386460
night bump

>>36386115
>Sure, if he wants to buy you a drink that's his business you guess.

>>36386203
It's official; Sky is the greatest protagonist EVER. His mix of chivalry, sarcasm, badassery and sheer inability to give a single fuck make him WAY too much fun. I can see us gathering a little brotherhood around us as we travel, with charisma like this. I mean, we've befriended (sort of) a thief who was going to steal from us and now we've turned a potential brawl and everything associated with it, into a friendly drink!

All this just makes me want to play Legends of the Wulin even more!

>>36388546
>It's official; Sky is the greatest protagonist EVER.

Waking up at five in the morning for a glass of water and reading this comment when checking if the thread wasn't alive, was immensely embarrassing and flattering all at once.

Thanks, I just write as best as I can.

>>36388810
I just call 'em like I see 'em

Now get some sleep you silly bastard. Unlike an actual sage, you can't subsist on ten grains of rice, dew from a leaf and three hours of meditation a day, so don't even try.

>>36386251
Sooo... Question, are friendly fights in Wulin typically until someone is killed/maimed/unconscious, or can you admit defeat before that point, if your kung fu is not strong enough?

Bump

>>36389771
Bump 2.0

>>36389385
There's hardly any "rules" to fights between xia unless initially agreed upon before the fight in question, but actually it's quite common for characters to walk away from fights mostly intact.
A loss is a loss when you admit defeat or are otherwise unable to fight due to injury or whatever.

Killing every single foe you make outright is actually considered somewhat vicious and villainous behavior on the part of xia, as conflict and testing yourself can only be done by having rivals and enemies; slaughtering anyone who fights you or crippling them beyond the ability to fight removes such challenges, not to mention makes you come across as kind of a psycho seeing as xia can and will start fights over the dumbest shit on a moment's notice.

Not to say killing is never done though; between hated enemies lethal violence is extremely common, sometimes even on ancillary targets, which of course just causes enmity between the two parties to get even worse over time.

>>36390216
Notably certain heroes in wuxia can act INCREDIBLY vicious in pursuit of their goals (usually revenge), leaving body counts behind them that rival Ogami Itto's in Lone Wolf and Cub, as well as displaying a similar level of utter ruthlessness when it comes to their enemies even if they aren't otherwise deliberately cruel or evil people.

Cloud, one of the two heroes of the manwha Fung Yun (better known as Storm Riders in the US) is an excellent example; the dude is basically a walking disaster area when it comes to fighting, and leaves casualties so enormous that most of the series he's often thought of as a villain simply because he's killed so MANY people most assume he's a black-hearted devil in personality.

In fact the plot tends to focus on him more then his co-protagonist Wind because Wind's saintly disposition means Cloud's tendency to piss off EVERYONE by killing everyone who picks fights with him drives the plot forward a great deal.

New thread here
>>36390547