On the roads once more, Chan Ming begins her martial arts training and the group spend a month building up her endurance. As their training winds down, the four run into a trading caravan and an old friend. The author and creator of the Sword of Heroes, Luo Guanzhong. The crew travel with the caravan as their body guards, catch up Luo and assist Xin Lan in reconnecting with some of their lost emotion. Just before arriving to the town of Yunnan, Renshu recieves an ill omen from his spirits and the group scout out the town only to find it completely destroyed. In the ruins of the town, Tai Lung comes across Mei Ling a martial artist who aspires to be one of The Five. When the dead rise and attack them, the two retreat to retreive the rest of the group and continue the investigation. While the group investigate the town's destruction, they find a magic circle full of the memories of the dead. Renshu and Tai Lung enter and discover the truth, a snow leopard led her bandit army into the town in search of the library's secret. The names of the royal family's lineage and the cypher to decode them. Tragedy befalls the group when Renshu's soul is taken by the Great Judge Yánluówáng, judge of the dead. In order to save his friend's soul and offer him a second chance to redeem himself, Tai Lung delves into Hell itself to momentarily experience Renshu's fate should he not change. The experience itself is so harrowing that our protagonist's sense of self is shaken to it's core and he no longer posses Inner Peace.

Moved by Tai Lung's sacrifice and conviction, Renshu offers his undying loyalty and life to the man and the two become blood brothers, swearing their lives to one another and tying their fates even closer. Now the group face a new task, to find this snow leopard, recover from their ordeals, and to find redemption within 13 years.

Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Tai%20Lung%20quest

Several hours after leaving Mei Ling and Luo...

"So what do we do now?" Xin Lan asks as they look over the town. "Man I wish I had a telescope..." You and your group find yourselves on the same hill overlooking Yunnan once more as you plan your next course of action. "I mean it's a bandit army, it shouldn't be that hard to find..." Ming looks up from her map and a battered compass, a gift from Captain Daiyu.

"Well first we need some tracks to...you know, track." She says. "If I had a direction, I might be able to figure out what the most likely spots they would camp at could be."

"Well can't you do that star thing? You know...how you found us?" Xin Lan asks as they jump down from a tree and wander up to the map. Ming shakes her head.

"No. When I did that, I knew the positions of the stars when we lost you and compared them to the position of the stars now. Then I used the direction we went and calculated how far off course we were." She explains. Upon seeing Xin Lan's blank expression she continues. "Basically I used the stars as landmarks...landmarks that move but move in a specific pattern."

"I'm afraid the spirits can only give us a modicum of assistance." Renshu says as he and you make your way back from exploring the town. "Those that were trapped here are no longer present and we haven't found any tracks within the town."

"The fires and ash have pretty much destroyed any trace of them. Perhaps some where preserved under it all but as it stands we'd have to excavate the whole village." You say. "With no rain or muddy trails, they left nothing in the surrounding area."

"But what about the trails we saw before? The ones in the bandit camp?" Ming asks and thinks. "They were days before we reached here. Do you think they might have moved south? Are we going in the wrong direction?"

"Doubtful." Renshu replies. "The spirits there spoke of being hunted down. From what I gathered they were treated like sport. It seems the raid party simply used them as practice before moving back here. Or around here to avoid treading the same grounds. Mindless murders..." He adds quietly.

"Damn it." Xin Lan grumbles as they fall down to sit. "We have 3 expert trackers and a genius but without a lead we got nothing!" Ming blushes at the genius bit. "We need something!" They pull at the grass and look at you. "Got any ideas? Anything?"

>What do you say?
>Say you have nothing in mind. You've searched and found nothing.
>Ask Ming what's the closest town. Preferably east or west. If you can find one that's still standing it safe to assume any survivors of these raids would head there first. Perhaps they have news.
>Look at the map. Ask Ming if she can find any patterns in these attacks. Maybe you can work on that. Failing that, you can go check out another raided village.
>Write in.

>>4532515
>Look at map, look for anything relevant based on what we remember from the coded documents. Ask others if they have any ideas.
If all else fails, head for the nearest town and ask / look there.

>>4532515

>Look at the map. Ask Ming if she can find any patterns in these attacks. Maybe you can work on that. Failing that, you can go check out another raided village.

>>4532515
>Look at the map. Ask Ming if she can find any patterns in these attacks. Maybe you can work on that. Failing that, you can go check out another raided village.

>>4532524
>>4532530
Looking for patterns. Writing.

>Ask Ming what's the closest town. Preferably east or west. If you can find one that's still standing it safe to assume any survivors of these raids would head there first. Perhaps they have news.

You sit next to the map and look at it for a bit. "Any patterns in the attacks?" You ask Ming. "Maybe we can figure out if there's gonna be another Raid or maybe you can find something that points to a nearby camp?" Ming pulls out a a small book and opens it to reveal some notes. She thumbs through it a bit as she talks.

"Well...I was talking to Mei Ling about it two days ago. Let me see what towns she visited..." She says placing the book on the map and uses small bits of grass to use as markers. "We have Boshe to the north...Ganzi...Xiqi...Yunnan..." Ming adds a few more markers before stopping. To you it simply looks like scattered towns with the only pattern being they were north of China. "If we look at it...umm..." She scratches her head.

"They're along the Huangshan mountain range." Xin Lan points out. "Well...at least the ones Mei Ling visited."

"Makes sense. I doubt the raiders would want to venture through the mountains if they're attacking villages." You say. "They don't seem close to one another. At least...it's not like they're stopping to raid for supplies to move forward."

"We know they were searching for the cypher or at least the imperial documents. The fact they focused on the library confirms that." Renshu says. "Though as Miss Ling pointed out, they are particularly brutal about their raids. The do not wish to be found or more insidiously...they do." You and Ming look at Renshu.

"What do you mean?" She asks.

"Raids on towns are, as infrequent as they were, not a novelty." Renshu says. "Most bandits simply take valuables and food then flee. However, our foes have shown they are willing to cut down everyone and fully destroy their target. Not only that but they went out of their way to hunt down a group of bandits for sport. So the question becomes...why are there surivors? A militant group such as this would have no problems hunting down everyone."

"Come on Stripes." Xin Lan says. "They couldn't find everyone. Some people would have to get away in the chaos." Renshu shakes his head.

"In enough numbers that these attacks are discovered by people all the way down in central China? Miss Ling is from Lee Da Academy no? Yet she heard news of these attacks. If one or two people survived, perhaps such attacks would be known but most would assume they were exaggerating and the town would recouperate. Yet we we have tales of several towns being destroyed utterly, and they all have the common theme of a snow leopard leading the attack. No doubt Tai Lung's infamy assisted with that yet their leader wishes to be known. Rather than hide or send her army to fight while she remains safe, she engages in the fight as well. Why? Because she's making a statement."

"You can't stop me..." Xin Lan says thinking. "A show of force. The rules don't apply to her and she wants you to be afraid."

"Bold of her." You say. "But perhaps in her arrogance she left a clue." You look at the map again. "Is there a particular area she's circling? Maybe like a ring of destroyed towns? Maybe a town untouched they might be hiding out in?" Ming nods and looks again.

"Let's see..." She says looking at the map again. "Hey...check this out." She says waving everyone around. "Xiqi." She says pointing to one of the destroyed towns.

"What about it?" Xin Lan asks. "That's one of the attacks."

"Yes but look. Xiqi is roughly in the center of all the attacks. You can reach a handful of the others from here in about the same ammount of time." She says. "And it's near a lake. So even if the town is ruined, they have a water supply. Sounds like a good place to hide out in right?" She asks.

"Interesting." Renshu says.

"She's using one of her old attacks to hide her presence." You say. "Of course no one would find her. She could simply move to another ruined town to hide in if they got wind of being followed by imperial guards. They'd simply think the tracks were part of the attack or some scavanger. Anyone else would simply steer clear of it."

"Nice one." Xin Lan says patting Ming's back. "So we're heading to Xiqi then?"

>What do you say?
>Head to Xiqi now. Best to give chase while you can though you're not sure if this will lead anywhere.
>Head for one of the towns that's still standing. Better get supplies while you still can and maybe more information.
>Head to one of the other towns surrounding Xiqi. It's been a month since the attack on Yunnan. More than likely the raid party has moved on from Xiqi. You could try to head them off. (Which town do you want to head to? For simplicity pick one of the cardinal directions with Xiqi being the center. Yunnan (where you're at) is south.)
>Write in.

>>4532586
>Head to Xiqi now. Best to give chase while you can though you're not sure if this will lead anywhere.

Rabbits have an incredibly good sense of smell, since they have to smell out underground food. They also have incredibly good hearing, able to hear as far out as two miles away.
So here's my proposal: Renshu was in the dream. He can probably remember a distinct smell about the raiders, especially since he was devoid of his spiritual senses during that time (senses compensate and become more sensitive when you're lacking one of them). If, along the way, Renshu picks up a hint of their smell, we can follow it like a bloodhound. And two pairs of rabbit ears in the group means we'll hear them long before we see them when we get closer.

>>4532605

+1

>>4532605
Support.

But a question for you Luo. How long did we spend in Daiyu? I presume a few hours but I'd like to get a semi-good grasp of how much we put up with to utterly shatter our sense of purpose.
On the upside, we now have a solid, iron hard counter to literally anyone, including our past self, who says "Why be good? let loose and do as you want." Namely "I've been to hell and been subject to their hospitality, nothing is worth suffering that again." It's a bit sad that it isn't only our convictions that keep us on the right path now, but eh.

>>4532605
Damn the rabbits just got scarier. But nice plan.
>>4532639
In character? You have absolutely no idea. That's one of the many thing that drove home how horrible Hell was. It could have been mere seconds you were in there per court. It could have been years. Suffering and agony where the only things you could comprehend. Out of character, you spend roughly a day per level. In terms of mortal time that's about a few minutes total from you bartering with Yánluówáng to your return to your body.

As for your convictions no longer being the only thing keeping you on the right path? Yeah that is kind of sad and now I feel a bit bad. Writing your time in Hell certainly wasn't enjoyable, though it was interesting. I did it for a few reasons,

1. I didn't want to water Hell down. I wanted it to be scary and disturbing making it a stark contrast to the whole tone of the game so far (which I want to still retain. This is a rather bright and hopeful setting). So that players know that this is some bad shit.

2. So that you can see why exactly Renshu was so moved by your decision. You didn't just take a bullet for him or spoke up on his behalf. You did one of the most heroic things, possibly in all of the setting's history, that anyone can do. You went to Hell, suffered unspeakably, for the sake of a man you only knew for a month or so. A man who in his own eyes is irredeemable. Just so he can have the chance to do what he thinks is impossible.

3.To show the players that you're indeed a hero. You're not the scary monster from the beginning of the game. My hope is that Tai Lung's conviction returns but this time it's not just "I want to do good to redeem myself." but also something along the lines of "I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help those I care about because no one is beyond saving." Basically going to Hell was a terrible experience, and that won't ever change but TL becomes so much stronger because of it to the point that the fear of Hell is not what drives him. I only hope that I can be a good enough QM to deliver on that.

>>4532605
>>4532610
>>4532639
Using bunny super powers to track bandits. Writing.

>>4532674
>10 courts of hell, 9 are punishments and one is a retread of literally all your punishments prior, leaving a total of 16 days torture
Holy fuck.

And yeah, I wasn't saying it was the fear of hell which would drive us, it's just that...well, it removed some of the ambiguity.
You could toil for a hundred years being a great person who helps everyone simply because you think it's the right thing to do, and you'd have no idea weather or not it was. You could have been the most vile tyrant or the purest saint and both could get you into the next life, or only tyrants or only saint and you just don't know.
But now we do know, without a shadow of a doubt, that nothing in this life is worth a trip to Daiyu.

Though this has prompted a thought of mine, which is two fold. The first is that entering Eureka as master Oogway did does keep you away from the courts, and as Po showed us, the Wushi finger hold sends us to the spirit realm. So in theory to avoid such agony and pain a villain could master either himself or the hold and skip over to the spirit realm to avoid the consequences of his actions, until the great dragons send someone to deal with it.

The other, is a point about Tai Lung. In that I think we've found the hard cap of what he is willing to do, since I can't imagine that he would ever willingly put himself through Hell again, even for Xin or Mings sake. So I wonder if Tai Lung would continue to do as much as he can in China for as long as his life would allow before attempting to flee to the Spirit world, because even if he's saved china twice over then he still wouldn't want to risk a the judge putting him in there again.
But then again maybe the Tai Lung in my thoughts puts more terror on the experience than the written one does.

>>4532693
You're right. I did remove the ambiguity and ugh...that just hits me where it hurts. I should have realized that it sort of would take away from player agency. Like you said, there isn't a mystery now. Now you do know and it takes away from the weight of choices and fuck if that doesn't drive me up the wall knowing that.

My only hope is that it becomes a thing knowing only accentuates your convictions. Less of "I do good because of I want to stay out of Hell." and more of "I do good inspite of knowing there's a Hell. I don't do it because I'm going to avoid punishment or receive my karmic reward. I do it because it's simply the right thing to do."

Of course there's also the argument of the shades of grey right? I hope...Like, you're a theif but what if you're stealing to feed your family? You're a warlord like Kai but you simply want to reunite the country and bring peace. What about soldiers who are simply protecting those they love?

The thing about Renshu's crimes, and I guess my writing in gerneral as much as it hurts to admit, is that his evils were pretty black and white. Solidly evil. He murdered, maimed, tortured and enjoyed it (mostly due to his upbringing) but even knowing what he was doing was wrong he still continued. It was something that was pointed out when you recruited him. His whole redemption thing really wasn't all what he said it was. He kept killing despite what he thought were good intentions (another hint towards his vice). The one "good" thing that would be on his record would probably taking care of Xin and the various minor acts of compassion he does as a Shaman.

Tai Lung falls more under the grey area I would think. He's done bad things but he's turned his life around. Is it enough by now? We don't know but I hope his character becomes one of not caring if this gets him a get out of jail card only that it's the right thing to do.

Personally I think he would go to Hell for Xin or Ming again. Maybe not right now, definitely not right now but eventually maybe. He's just that stubborn and this is a story about heroism. Maybe next time he'll fight his way out. But not the first time, that was a shock for him.

tl;dr I fucked up in my writing and I feel bad. I'm sorry.

"Yeah. Let's see if there's any traces left of them." You say. "Renshu, I've heard that rabbits have a good sense of smell. Maybe you could use that to track the raiders? They certainly weren't from China. Did you notice any distinct smells from them?" Xin Lan scoffs.

"Good he says..." They mutter shaking their head and Renshu nods.

"Yes I did. Though it has been quiet a while since I've tracked anyone by their smell." He admits. "Normally, my other senses do well enough though this might by our only clue. I will keep my nose out for any familiar scents. They did have a perticular scent though it's rather difficult to describe. "

"That's fine. As long as you can remember it." You say. "How far is Xiqi from here?"

"About another week or so of travel." Ming says. "Unless you plan on going at it full speed?"

"No. If we move too fast, we might miss out on possible clues." You reply. "We'll go at a faster pace but nothing so intense. Hopefully this turns up something." You stand and gather your things. "We should head out then before the sun begins to set." You friends nod and gather their own things to set out.

---

The day's travel was brisk and quiet. Though you all did some light talking, you were all more preoccupied on the task at hand despite not expecting any clues until you arrived at town. Eventually, the sun begins to set and your path is darkened by the long shadows of the trees around you. "We should probably stop and make camp." Ming says. "Not that I'm tired or anything. Someone made sure of that." She grins at you.

"You keep that up and I'll make you run a few more laps around the camp." You lightly tease. "But you're right. It's best we set up camp. I'll go get some fire wood." You say setting your things down and heading into the woods to find a fallen tree or branches you might be able to use for kindling. You've looked for a few minutes before you hear footsteps approaching. Tensing up, you see Xin Lan bleed out of the shadows as they always do. Their face neutral and expressionless though you can see a vauge something on it...perhaps anxiety? Confusion? "Hey Xin. What's wrong?" You ask.

"I am here to ask you same thing." Xin Lan says. "What has happened? You have changed."

You tilt your head. "What do you mean?" You ask.

"You no longer walk with the grace you used to have." Xin Lan replies, getting straight to the point. "Your footsteps are heavy. When you woke up on the ship when we were on the ocean, you were different. Calmer. At rest. You no longer have that. The others may not see it...but I do."

>>4532717
The story looks fine to me, boss.
KFP is in an innately spiritual setting based on chinese mythology, so it's only natural for the chinese afterlives to come into play at some point.
I for one look forward to when Tai Lung eventually finds himself on the threshold of heaven in his adventures. Imagine, to have gone to Hell, Eureka, and Heaven all in one- err...two lives!

At any rate, I'm pretty sure it's actually not all that hard to sneak into heaven. The problem is staying there without detection, but plenty of chinese protagonists have stolen things from heaven.

>What do you say?
>Tell Xin Lan it's nothing. You're probably still just tired from being up several nights and having to go into meditations several times in a row. Especially in that spirit fog.
>Simply tell Xin Lan that your fine. Things will be back to normal soon enough. They shouldn't worry about it, though you're glad that they are and can be. Change the subject, and ask them how their emotions are coming along.
>Tell Xin Lan you've been through a few things. You're still processing them but it'll be alright.
>Talk about what you went through. You did do it for their brother after all. They have a right to know about the time limit. Xin is also your best friend.
>Write in.

>>4532717
Chill out man. Just chiiiiiill. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, I'm just saying that we do have a massive Iron-hard counter to anyone's speech about being evil for personal gain. That being to laugh in their face and say "Yeah no, I've tasted the fruit of that path and it's all rotten." It's just funny to imagine someone talking about all the glories and fine things evil brings, to the guy who spent 2 weeks being tortured for someone who did all the crimes in existance.

TL as he is, will probably go back to ignoring the existence of hell in a couple of weeks, because he did it, it's over and now it's back to the old hero Gig.
As you said, he isn't the type to give a shit about Prison or Hell or what have you, he just wants to make things better for his friends and for China, partly as repayment for his crimes.
But when you think about death, It's not hard to have the old phobias and fears rear their heads, which is where my thought space went to. And yeah, we probably would go back to hell for Xin and Best Girl.

Anyway, it's a story about hero's and what's heroism if it doesn't cost you a bit eh?

>>4532740
>Xin, I don't want to talk about it, not right now while it's still raw. But ask your brother about the pact that was struck while we were meditating, you deserve to know about that at least.

The others should know about the deal, but again, let the wounds and the damage heal for a while before we can talk about it. I'd hate to break down on them.

>>4532747
Not ready to talk about it. Writing.

Just finish the last thread. Great work Luo
This story is one of the best i have read, Keep up the great work!

"Xin...I don't want to talk about it." You say quietly. "Not while it's still raw. Though you should talk to your brother about the pact that was struck while while he was gone. You deserve to kow that at least." You see something briefly flash in Xin Lan's mute eyes. You think it was pain? The thought of that brings up a recent memory...

"I feel pain." They whisper. "When you struggle. It hurts."

You frown but before you can say anything Xin Lan speaks. "I see...If I could I perhaps would have felt offended. Maybe jump to some conclusion that my inability to feel properly makes me inadequate to speak to. But I can't, so I won't. I presume you have your reasons and you will speak up when you feel ready. I do not think you are one to hold your emotions in. Not after what happened in Zhengyi city. I shall speak to Renshu about this pact." They turn to leave. "Ming wishes for you to bring her some moss. I volunteered to so do so that I could speak to you alone. I already have what she needs so you don't have to look for any. Just return before night fall. It is getting colder and we could use the fire." With that they head into the shadows and vanish once more, leaving you alone. Had it been anyone else, those words would have felt passive agressive. Knowing that Xin Lan wasn't capable of that doesn't help as you're now not sure which senario was worse.

You stand there unsure of what to do for a moment before simply returning to gathering firewood. By the time you return, the sun was hidden in the treeline and the others had set up their bedrolls. Ming had dug up a nice fire pit for you to place the wood and soon enough a comfy fire was crackling and chipping away at the encroaching darkness. "What exactly are we going to look for in Xiqi?" She asks warming her hands up and stirring at a bubbling pot of water. Renshu had done a bit of searching and found some leaves to make tea with, something Ming was quite excited about.

"For now? Track I guess." Xin Lan says. "Or some indication they did camp there. If luck is on our side, they'll either be there or left enough evidence we can follow them. It's actually quite hard to hide the direction you're going and for a large group like that probably impossible." They chew on a root. "They also have to travel slower with more people. More people also means more chances for someone to screw up and leave behind evidence. That's what we want to capitalize on."

"We will also be able to hide much better than a large group." Renshu explains. "Our smaller group makes less noise, our overall sillouette is smaller, and we can communicate much more effectively."

"But that reminds me. How do we...fight them?" Ming asks. "I mean I guess you guys can go at it but what if some of them run away? Don't we want to catch them all?" She rummages through her bag and pulls out a book. "Let's see..." She says flipping through the pages.

"What book is that?" Xin Lan asks.

"It's one I got from the library." She says holding it up. "The Art of War. I figured if I can't fight then I could at least do tactics."

>What do you say?
>Tell Ming that their capture is not the goal. At least not all of them. Recovery of the scrolls is the most important goal.
>Say that you only need to capture their leader. Once she's captured, more than likely the bandits will disband or their group will collapse with out proper leadership. Especially after losing in combat.
>Think of some kind of plan that could help you capture the bandit group. The less bandits that go free the better.
>Write in.

>>4532817
Thanks man. Always trying to get better and deliver a good quest. This quest has kind of become my hobby and I'm glad it's gone on for this long.

>>4532855
Sorry Xin, but I think you'll understand when it's explained to you. But poking the wound isn't...pleasant.

>The primary goal is recovery of the scrolls and the cipher, then the capture of the leadership.
So the plan I have, is infiltrate their camp by stealth and incapacitate, then remove the leadership.
From there, we can do two things. Ghost through the camp and put them to sleep through the night, which is possible if a bit of a time sink then terrorise the other half to make em run. But that leaves an entire army and we are 4 people.

My other idea is to terrorise them with a fire or an explosion in the middle of the night, screaming like a dragon and generally making them run for the hills. They will disperse but not as a large cohesive force anymore, making villages more resistant to them.

Gonna go make food. Be back later.

>>4532855
>The primary goal is recovery of the scrolls and the cipher, then the capture of the leadership.
>But, if you can come up with a tactic that can take out an entire army, I'd be willing to try it out. Maybe by trapping them in a mountain pass?

>>4532867
>>4532991
The scrolls are the primary goal. Writing.

"For now, we should focus on getting back those scrolls." You say.

"But what about the bandits?" Ming asks. "We can't just leave them free."

"I know but they have secrets of the empire." You say. "They can cause a lot more damage with them in their hands. It puts all of China in danger." Ming frowns.

"I know but...It doesn't really feel right." She says. "I don't want people like them running around harming people."

"Well that's where the good news comes in." You say with a smile. "If we find the scrolls then we find the bandits and they certainly won't let us have them. We'll have to go through them first so it just seems like we'll have to defeat them to complete our goal. To goals in one swoop." You add a log into the fire. "But if we have to choose between the two, we should focus on the scrolls. The less tools they have at their disposal the better. They can't run forever so if we need to chip away at them before we finally get them. So be it. At the moment their leader will be our secondary target. With out a chain of command the bandits will surely fall appart. Unless you have a way to take and army out? Like trapping them somehow. Maybe in a mountain pass?"

Ming thinks about it. "I don't know...the problem is that we're just four people. They don't really have a reason to give chase if we flee or try to make them follow us. Even if we threaten to give their location away, it's just much easier for them to let us go and change location. They might send a group after us but certainly not the whole army...maybe if we had the scrolls. The thing is even if we were to trap them in a pass and we flanked them..." Ming goes quiet.

"Yeah? If we trapped them in a pass and then what?" Xin Lan asks putting a carrot on a stick to the flames.

"Nothing." She says. "It's something I'll need to think about. I might be able to make it work."

"You know...if it was anyone else I probably wouldn't belive them." They say. "But you haven't failed us yet. I'm sure you'll come up with a plan. Wouldn't that be a story? 4 people taking down an entire army of bandits?"

You nod. "I'd definitely like to hear more details on your plan." You say.

"Well..." Ming says. "The problem isn't our fighting prowess. I'm definitely sure as a group, you all could take on a sizable army. The thing is, you will get surrounded. Even taking into account the fact so many people bunching up and getting into each other's way a few problems arise. Law of averages says you will get hit. You simply can't dodge everything especially in close quarters. And all it takes is just a small cut in the wrong spot and you'll die. The next is that you can't dictate who they'll face. If some choose to go after a vulnerable target, you won't be able to stop them assuming you even notice that in the mass of fighting. They could simply ignore you and go for someone or something else. But what if we thin the herd out? Drop something on them?"

"I don't think we can drop boulders on them if you want to get out of this with your hands clean." Xin Lan says.

"Then why not bombs?" Ming asks. "We're done it before. Fill a few bombs or cauldrons full of incapacitating liquids or gas? The we drop them from the height of the mountains into the pass? The only issue is that I don't have enough to make that much and I've never made doses that high. We could seriously hurt if not kill someone with that much poison. I need time to mess with formulas and ingredients."

"That certainly would be an effective use of the terrain." Renshu says. "If we could somehow get them to follow us, it might be our best gambit yet. Perhaps for this endevour subterfuge would be our best." Xin Lan perks up.

"You saying what I think you're saying?" He asks excitedly.

"Yes...I do believe I am and I feel like I should be worried." Renshu says.

"We're planning a heist!" Xin Lan shouts, dropping his carrot into the fire. "It's been so long since I stole anything and now we can do it for good! If we can somehow steal the scrolls from under their noses, we won't have to fight. That'll certainly get their attention. Oh man if this works out The Five are gonna be so mad!" They say, their cotton tail wiggling happily. Renshu simply ruffles Xin Lan's ears, amused.

"If we can do that, we might be able to subdue their leader as well." You say. "Knowing that they're losing both their leadership and their treasure, they certainly will want to give chase if not break up. But this sounds beyond the scope of the supplies we have." You admit.

"So should we put off going to Xiqi?" Ming asks. "We can still make it to another town to get all of this ready." You think.

>What do you do?
>Go to Xiqi. See if you can get some information on your foes first, then decide on the plan.
>Go to a different town and stock up/ mess with alchemy. If you do find the bandits then you won't be sure they'll stick around long enough for you to get supplies and come back. Best to have all your tools ready when you do get to them.
>Try and do both. Check the map to see if there's a nearby town you can visit on your way to Xiqi. Though it is possible this might cost you more time than either decision if the town you choose has also been attacked.
>Write in.

>>4533166
>Head to an inhabited town, for both supplies and to warn them/Tell them about the raiders shit.

Hirst plan would be great.

>>4533166
>Go to a different town and stock up/ mess with alchemy. If you do find the bandits then you won't be sure they'll stick around long enough for you to get supplies and come back. Best to have all your tools ready when you do get to them.

>>4533171
this

>>4533166
>Go to a different town and stock up/ mess with alchemy. If you do find the bandits then you won't be sure they'll stick around long enough for you to get supplies and come back. Best to have all your tools ready when you do get to them.

>>4533171
>>4533275
>>4533365
>>4533988
Going to an inhabited town to get supplies and do some downtime as well as warn them of raiders. Writing.

"Well considering we have a plan coming along, I say we should head somewhere to resupply." You say. "What's the closest place we can head to?" You ask Ming. Ming pulls out a map and carefully looks at it in the firelight then compares it to her note book.

"Let's see..." She mutters. "If we compare our map to the list of towns Mei Ling scouted...Oh! Taishi is close by. Just a few days away from Yunnan so we'll need to head back but we luckily we haven't made much travel..." She looks up from her notes. "Is that ok?"

"It is no bother to me." Renshu says. "Heading to resupply will allow us to see what options are available to us." He smiles quietly. "It would also allow my to buy a new Guqin."

"What happened to the Guzheng you were playing back in the city?" You ask. "It was quite big though...did you sell it?"

"Oh...that was not mine." Renshu admits. "The temple graciously allowed me to borrow it. It was a fine instrument however. I was honored they allowed me to play it. Though I must admit I do miss playing music as much a novice that I am." He says slightly wistful.

"It didn't sound like novice music to me." Ming says.

"You honor me with such praise." The rabbit replies. "However, back to the discussion. I have no issues heading back. What of you two?"

Xin Lan lets out a sigh and leans back. "Sounds good to me. If we're going to make personal purchases...I guess I can buy a dress." They tug at their ragged clothes. "I've mostly ruined mine. Funnily enough to bandage people up. Plus getting kind of bored of being a boy."

"We'll be traveling a lot. You sure a dress is a good thing to buy?" You ask.

"It's not for travel." Xin Lan says. "It's for when we're at town. Some us actually like looking nice. Isn't that right Ming?" Ming giggles.

"Xin is right." She says. "If they want to be a pretty boy that's up to them." Xin Lan shoots Ming a glare. Renshu chuckles.

"I for one think Xin Lan would make an excellent young lady. As much extra work that will place on me." They joke.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Xin Lan shouts.

"Someone needs to ward away unsuitable men from my little brother." He replies. Xin Lan pouts.

"You always do that Stripes. You know what I'm supposed to be diguised as." They grumble. "You got anything you wanna buy big guy?" They ask.

>What do you say?
>Admit that you don't have any thing in particular that you want to buy. You'll probably just play it safe and buy extra rations.
>Say that you do have a thing or two in mind. (What would Tai Lung wish to buy as personal purchase? Do we have any hobbies? Maybe something they enjoy?)
>Say you'll probably save your money for later but you don't mind going shopping with them.
>Lie. Say you won't buy anything but secretly buy something special for each one. New years is 2 months away and they're your friends/family. You don't have much cash so you'll only be able to get a small object.
>Write in.

>>4534159
>I'll get something, not sure what yet. Perhaps some links for calligraphy. (But actually get them each something for new years)

See xin and Renshu can cut through lies like butter. Thus, we tell no lies and we cannot get caught.
I've spent about 20 minutes thinking about gifts, and the ideas I have are;

Ming - Needles and thread w/ a box.
Xin - A small book of romantic adventures (like romance of the three kingdoms)
Renshu - drawing a blank.

>>4534220
See, the needles and thread have a practical use, but they are also a reminder of Daiyo and her lessons, maybe get a message scratched/burned onto the box to really sell the point.

Xin, well they just love stories of virtue and honour and loyalty. I don't think we can buy them any knives either given costs, but a book should be fine.

Renshu.....I wanna commemorate the bond we have now, but I've got no ideas how. A drink is insensitive, a weapon is worse, I did consider padded gloves for the cold/it's slightly harder to murder someone with them on as a reminder but his style doesn't really rely on sharp strikes.
He's already getting an instrument so....Eh.

>>4534229
Bit more searching on the internet, Get Renshu a faux-Fulu coin.

It's basically a coin with "magic" script on it that asks for shit like protection, good fortune, strength and the like. I figure getting him one that asks for change/strength of will could be nice, as well as fit into his "shaman" persona.

>>4534340
Hey I dig those ideas. Not sure if I should continue writing or wait for more votes. It is saturday so I assume most people are just relaxing and spending their weekends.

>>4534400
Up to you man. I'm fine to wait for someone else to pop in with their own ideas, but I've got nothing else in the bank that isn't generic "alchemy book for ming, who probably knows all of it anyway"

>>4534159
Xin GF/BF when

>>4534428
Never. Xin is sister, Ming is best girl

>>4534159
>Say that you do have a thing or two in mind. (An empty book or notebook and a pencil or brush with an ink bottle)

Clearly the choice is Viper. The most popular of girls.

Waifus are not my specialty anons. I simply fan the flames.

>>4534441
to fan the flames, you need to breathe life into a conflict.
Giving such wrong opinions as V*per is like trying to set a lump of waterlogged flint aflame.

>>4534447
Perhaps. I see it more as giving you various different logs to choose from...even if said log is pulled from the bottom of the ocean.

Ming may be best girl but is she best for TL...or for Daiyu? I suppose it doesn't matter either way. Despite on who I wish to be the true waifu, I shall do my best to leave the choice to the anons and keep my biases out of this.

No matter how you slice it though, I don't have experience for writing romance. I haven't done much in the way of simply having a large chunk of posts being the crew hanging out because I don't want to risk the game getting derailed or dull. Though perhaps, Chinese new years would be a good time to attempt it.

>>4534469
Ming is best girl, just naturally.

But yeah, probably a better fit for Daiyo rather than TL. He's more of a Big brother/cool Uncle who will come and batter your fucking face in if you hurt ming than a loving husband or boyfriend material. Daiyo herself has a bit more of a grasp on her emotional state and how it reflects on her character, not being a kung fu/power obsessed autist who focused entirely on his craft while ignoring everyone else for most of his life.
Nobody can dispute that she is a better Match, but everyone can dispute whom deserves whom due to shared experiences. I personally am fine without hooking up with anyone, but I do find big brother TL to be hillarious

>>4534566
Big brother TL is terrifying. I can only imagine the poor sod that decides to draw the ire of that sleeping beast.

>>4534645
Twice over Scourge of he valley of peace is not a guy you want to explain to about how you broke his great friend/basically little sister's heart.

>>4534655
And that's if they're lucky. The remaining 2 from the group of four definitely wouldn't let it slide either. I do often like to imagine what their lives will be like after their adventures. Would they all meet up once a year at the Jade Palace to spend a holiday together? Would they instead visit the crew of the Gale Cutter and throw a huge ass party?

>>4534438
>>4534220
I will combine these votes and do a write in while we discuss game stuff just to keep things going. Writing.

>>4534669
Of course not.
On the winter solstice, when the barrier between worlds is thinnest, they meet up at Oogway’s to party with dragons, ancient masters, and spirits.

>>4534669
Given that they are practically a family unit by this point, I imagine that they'd spend the rest of their lives together, apart from ming who opens a shop on the gale cutter, selling to the men and women on shore as they go.
Coming ashore every new years so that they can spend a while getting drunk and joking about old adventures.
And to see if Ming has kept up her training.

You consider it for a moment. Each of your friends had something they wanted but what did you want to buy? Your mind wanders back to the various times you needed paper. You did write letters to your father every so often. Perhaps buying a notebook like Ming would help you organize your thoughts or take notes for next time. Then again...nothing said what you bought had to be for you. You vaguely recall Ming mentioning you all coming together for New Years many months ago before you convinced her to join you. You weren't the best with words but perhaps you could show how much your friends meant to you with gifts? "Well I have a thing or two in mind." You admit. "Probably just a simple notebook and ink. It'll help me keep thoughts organized." You half lie.

"Huh, really?" Xin Lan says a bit surprised. "I figured you'd probably a new set of clothes. You go through as many as I do." They tease.

"Well I think it's a nice idea." Ming says. "It might help you with your letters to your dad."

"Gathering one's thoughts is a good mental exercise." Renshu agrees. "It helps clear the mind and settle one's thoughts and emotions. Many well known philosophers have been known to write their doubts and thoughts before meditating. Often times it is where their quotes comes from before they're expanded in their thesises after meditation."

"I don't think I'll ever be much of a philosopher." You admit. "But you might be right on helping me settle my mind. It'll let me come back to things on a later date. Maybe experience will give me a new look on my old ideas." You stretch a bit and yawn, prompting Xin Lan to do the same.

"Great, now I'm doing it too." They say as they crawl into their sleeping bag. "Well I think I'm going to tuck in for the night." Ming yawns as well.

"Now that you mention it. I'm kind of tired too. Good night boys." She says getting into her own bed roll. "We have tons of traveling to do." You and Renshu make sure the flames will keep going on through the night and are safely contained before the two of you decide to head to sleep as well.

>The unending wails of suffering echo throughout your dreams. No matter what you, no matter where you run, you can't escape the sounds of sorrow before you join the unholy chorus with screams of your own as the pain settles in...

Your eyes snap open and you can feel your heart race in your chest as you wake up. You find yourself short of breath and slightly sweaty as if you had run nonstop for several days. Sitting up, you see that it's early in the morning. Your friends are still fast asleep around the now dead campfire. You sigh and get out of your bedroll to start a smaller fire for breakfast as you try to shake off the lingering nightmare.

---

Your group spends the next few days going over the same routine of traveling, foraging, eating, and sleeping. Throughout your travels, you manage to squeeze in your morning runs with Ming. The jogs were more brisk than long but still focused on cardio and you find them helpful in pushing aside the dreams of the previous night. After about a week of travel you finally arrive at your destination, Taishi. It was a town of fairly average size all things considered though compared to a city like Zhengyi, it was basically a village. "Civilzation at last." Xin Lan says as your group finally enters the town properly.

"Can we at least stay out of trouble for the time being?" Ming asks. "I kind of want to see what stores they have here before we're surrounded in enemies."

"In our defense, trouble tends to find us not the otherway around." Xin Lan replies. "We're good boys. Honest." You ruffle Xin Lan's ears.

"Thought you were a girl." You say.

"I am and this boy is gonna find herself a nice dress." They reply kicking it up a notch. You snort in amusement.

"What about you Renshu. What are you going to do?" You ask.

"If it is not to much trouble. I would like to search the town to find those who need my services. Often times I make some money from donations."

>What do you say?
>Ask that everyone hold off on splitting up. Perhaps it would be a good idea to get a bite to eat and discuss what the plan is.
>Ask Ming how long does she think her alchemical testing will take. See if you need to find lodging for a while here.
>Let everyone split up to do their own thing. It'll give them some space to relax and wind down. You can all decide to meet up somewhere in a few hours.
>Write in.

>>4534761
>Let everyone disperse, meet up in town centre for some dinner later.
>Go get their gifts and our paper, then if there is time try and talk to ShenLong. We havent heard about his last friend and we have some adventures to tell him about.

And we should practice talking to spirits again.

>>4534761
>Let everyone split up to do their own thing. It'll give them some space to relax and wind down. You can all decide to meet up somewhere in a few hours.

>>4534432
>>4534428
the duality of men
bunny girls or cat girls?
dont know about you but i perfer rat girls

>>4534566
This is why Xin is best short stack femboy/girl/whatever
Double the autism, because they're both autistic to some degree.

>>4535492
They are also however, Sister to our blood brother, making her technically our sister in some manner.

And I don't think we exist in the porn dimension, where "related on a technicality" is invitation for sex.

>>4535565
"What are you doing blood step-bro?"

>>4535577
Kek

>>4535565
Isn't that a common trope in stories? Falling for your friend's sibling? But if you want really speak of step sisters. Tigress is legitimately your younger step sister. Both of you are canonically adopted by the same man.

>>4535652
We have the sibling rivalry downpat. But the only trope I know of regarding falling for your friends siblings or significant other is it ending very badly for all involved.

Also god damn, I just realised that tigress has been living in our shadow for over 20 years. God the chip on that shoulder must be the size of a mountain by now.

>>4535660
Oh yeah. It's pretty bad. In her eyes you're a murder, the guy who tarnished her family's honor, ruined the Jade Palace's integrity, ran away from his duties, a coward who couldn't accept the consequences of his actions, and the one she can't ever seem to surpass to get her father's approval. And there's probably tons more to that.

On other side of the coin, in your blood brother's eyes, you're the man who's willing to give everything up for those around him, a man of insurmountable integrity, one who takes his duties and responsibilities very seriously, one who is willing to admits his own faults and work towards redeeming them, and a savant of unparalled caliber. Renshu is also very grateful that you can somehow measure Xin Lan's emotional state, something he can't do.

It's pretty funny how it's all playing out.

>>4535680
God damn, I ain't sure we can fix that. I guess all we can do is just stay out of her way.

>>4535704
It's really more an issue between Tigress and Shifu. The only thing Tai Lung could do at this point is draw Shifu's attention to it I think, and that's if he even realizes what her issue is.

>>4535706
All TL knows is that she thinks you've shamed her father somehow. With a bit of asking around, he can find out that she's adopted by Shifu. Through that TL can probably peice together that she hates him because of what he did all those years ago and maybe assume she's been living in his shadow. After all she did make a big show in the movie about being the dragon warrior...which our favorite protag promptly talked shit about. Good thing he didn't pull the "You can't be the dragon warrior because you're a woman" card.

There is someone who would know more about her resentment than you if you care to ask them if only vaguely. Their blood currently runs in your veins. Assuming you care that is. Or you could ask Crane. He'd probably tell you about it too.

>>4535711
That's vaguely ominous. I thought TL was utterly abandoned.
Or are you talking about Renshu... no...

God damnit Luo, now I have to think about things.

>>4535713
Well if you don't want those two options...you could always ask Tigress what her deal is. That always sounds like fun. I'm sure she'll be happy to tell you all about them...probably while you're in a strangle hold but still it's just brother/sister bonding right?

>>4535725
I had meant whom had our blood in their veins, as well as knowing about Tigress. I assume you mean literal blood which discounts Shifu, and I dont know of other snow leopards.
Renshu might have some of our blood in his and his in ours but...hmm.

>>4535745
Wait...shenlong? He might count, given he resurrected us and is a wise dragon.

>>4535745
Oh I know. I just didn't want to ruin your fun in thinking who At the moment I meant Renshu given he can sense people's emotions and stuff.I just didn't want to talk about TL's past/ actual blood relatives. That mystery will probably remain as a mystery. At the moment, things regarding TL's birth parents/family are something I'll avoid. They just don't feel relavant to story, who TL is a person, or who he once was. We already have a pretty big cast and I often find more fun in what is going to happen rather than what occured.

Give me about hour, maybe hour and a half and I'll count the votes. Always enjoy discussion but I gotta make breakfast and get a few things done.

>>4535758
I though he just spoke to the dead. Guess I missed it

>>4534856
>>4534780
Becoming a secret santa. Writing. Also attempting to speak with Dragon bro.

>>4535850
>Becoming a secret santa
That's nice hope you have a good time picking out a present

"Seems like we all have something we want to do. How about we split up and meet back in the center of town in a few hours. We can get dinner then." You suggest as you look around. "We can meet up at that well." You point.

"Sounds fine by me." Xin Lan replies.
"Good idea. We can see what places we find food at while we search!" Ming says.
"I will keep an eye out for inns to rest at." Renshu adds.

"Then we'll meet back at sun down." You say. Your friends disperse and you go wandering around the town yourself. You don't expect to find anything rare or unqiue but the town is fairly sizable so at least you can get some supplies and perhaps look for some gifts for you friends. Asking around, you find a small bookstore tucked away in an alley named "The Endless Tale". It's windows are cluttered with faded books and hanging scrolls. Taking a peek, you can see some movement within so you assume that they are still open...or at least you hope so considering it's only slighty past noon. You tentatively push the door open and it creaks causing you to wince at your foiled stealth. You step into the somewhat stuffy store and are greeted by a young man. The young monkey looks up in surprise, "A customer! W-welcome!" He says and nearly drops the stack of books he was carrying when he tries to straighten up his shirt.

"Hello." You say a bit awkwardly. "I...was told I could buy a notebook here. As well as some ink?" The monkey nods.

"Yes, yes! I have several blank books you can use as a journal." He says trying to pull out a book from his stack. You decide to step in and lift the stack from his arms and hold it side ways like a shelf for him to pull the book out. "Oh thank you!" He gasps. "Those were heavy." The monkey pulls out a book and places it on a nearby counter then digs underneathe to pull out a dusty bottle of ink. "There we go. Do you need more ink?" He asks.

"No that should be fine but can I get the ink in a metal bottle?" You ask. "I travel alot...it sometimes gets a bit rough so I don't want it breaking in my pack." You explain. The monkey nods and begins to dig around some more.

"I think I have something like that around here." He says. "Let me see..." You look at the ink on the counter.

"Don't get many customers?" You ask as you try to make small talk.

"huh?" The monkey pokes his head out. "Oh! Not really." He admits going back to his search. "Most people go to the general store. It's less out of the way and they have ink and paper as well. Surprising someone told you to come here." He admits.

"Is it? I guess I did ask for a place to buy a notebook." You admit. "That might have given it away."

"Well I'm glad you came." The monkey says. "Because my ink is the best! Not watery or too thick but as dark as night!"

"Thick?" You ask.

"Yeah. Sometimes ink makers try to add filler ingredients to their ink." The young man explains as he looks up to adjust his glasses. "By making the ink more viscous they can fill bottle with less material. So they can sell less for more. Kind of like...making parts of clothing with cheaper threads so they don't have to use silk all around. But not here! I have integrity. You get what you pay for!" He says proudly. The young man continues to dig and place random things on the counter. Dice, a few stamps, matches, a book or two. Soon the sounds of him looking fill the silence.

>What do you do?
>Offer to put his books away while he looks. It'll give you something to do.
>Ask about his book selection. Perhaps he has something your friends might like as a gift. (Who would you like to buy a book for?)
>Ask about the town. Perhaps he might be able to direct you elsewhere.
>Write in.

>>4535895
>Look through his selection [Try finding a book for Xin, they like historical hero's and mentioned that oath of the peach tree was their favorite earlier. Try something with those themes.]
>Ask about the town [Who's the head of law enforcement here/where do they work, Do you know where I can find a shrine and a place that sells needle and thread kits?]

>>4535725
>strangle hold
>someone mentioning "w-what are you doing step brother?"
https://youtu.be/XQrr5Ihv1zg
I'm not sorry.

>>4535895
>Ask about his book selection. Perhaps he has something your friends might like as a gift. (Who would you like to buy a book for?)
Bro

>>4535910
You should be. You should be.

File: 1496025099835.jpg (123 KB, 572x303)

123 KB JPG

>>4535910
I...I see...
>mfw
>>4535901
>>4535910
Moving on! Buying a book for Xin and asking about the town. Writing.

>>4535910
Wait a minute...do you mean Renshu? I just assumed it was Xin because they tend to get refered to as girlbro. Just double checking.

>>4535960
I think they meant Renshu, being our actual Brother.
But there's no reason to not look for both, we're checking out the books anyway.

Idea! Music books that relate to whatever instrument he was playing

>>4535965
Works for me. Music books sounds good.

You look around the store while the man searches. Xin Lan loved his book and had probably read it hundreds of times by now. You wonder if getting them another book would be a good gift. If it was similar to theirs, Xin Lan might enjoy it. Your eyes linger on the various stacks of tomes all over the store and decide to take the fastest route. "I...could also use help in finding a book to buy." You say tentatively. The monkey's head pops back up with a look of genuine surprise. Slowly it fades and is replaced with a large smile.

"Of course!" They say jumping over the counter, knocking a few things off of it. "Let's see...so many to chose from. I have tales of adventure, tragedy, or maybe you'd like something more practical? I have manuals of health and meditation. Instruction books on farming. Oh but you travel. I got a few maps around here. Maybe a book on practical herbs for healing? Can't go wrong with that..." The man continues to voice options and before you're overwhelmed you decide to narrow it down for him.

"Well...have anything like Romance of the Three Kingdoms?" You suggest. "Something with tales of loyalty and valor. Maybe friendship?" You say weakly. Those weren't really much to go on. Luckily for you, it seems to be more than enough for the man.

"Ah! I got a few that might fit that!" He says motioning you to wait a bit. "Let's see. I'll give you a few titles and see what catches your fancy. Now we can go for an easy option. The Balad of Mulan, one of China's favorite stories. You probably already heard it a dozen times. The tale of a young woman who courageously takes the place of her father disguised as a man. Despite the dozens of battles she won and the many medals and honors the emperor himself awarded her, she refused them all and simply asked for his fastest horse so that she can return to her father." The monkey places the book on the now messy counter. "Oh! There's also the tale of General Yue Fei. The man who defeated an army of 100,000 with only 500 men. His loyalty to his country and kindess to both civilan and soldier alike are held in the poem The River Turns Red." The monkey places a large scroll on top of the book of Mulan before hurrying over to another side of the room. "If you want something more light hearted, there's the stories of Monk Ji Gong. Dressed in tattered clothing and wildy ecentric, his kind heart leads him to help those in need with his magic. There's the tale of him stealing a man's bride from her very wedding so that the entire town would chase him and thus move out of the way of a terrible landslide and saving them all. Or the time he saved a woman being stalked by a gang by disguising himself as her cape and scaring them senseless." Another book goes on the pile. "Sticking to the theme, there's the story of Sun Wu Kong in The Journey to the West. The many tales of the Monkey King and his troupe of maladjusted friends is also pretty popular."

You wait patiently, feeling a bit overwhelmed at all your options though you're glad that at least he didn't suggest half his stock for you to take. You feel a be hesitant but decide to take the plunge and tentatively ask, "Do you also have any books on music?" As if a switch was flipped the man nods and skirts around you to begin searching again.

"Any prefrences?" He asks.

"Umm...something that helps people meditate? Or...with spirtual things?" You offer unsure of what kinds of literature Renshu would like.

Once again this seems to be more than enough for the man. "Well, I do have a selection of books on music and with music sheets in it. I do have Harmony and Counter Point: Ritual Music of the Chinese Empire. It has a few sheets for music often played in common rituals and prayers as well as the history behind them. I've never been able to play an instrument but I'm sure if you can, then these might help you meditate. I hear music soothes for soul or so the saying goes." The monkey pulls another scroll from the shelf. "Then there's The Royal Menagerie. It's a collection of music often played in the Emperor's court! It even has a few written by some of the royal family themselves. I'm not sure how often you'll be visiting them but being able to play royal music is impressive enough. Who say's the royal blood needs to flow in your veins to enjoy their music right? Less of a book with music in it and more of a book of music, there's The Spirituality of Song. A book on the history of music and it's influence on spirituality as well as it's applications in philosophy." The man stands next to the counter, now piled with books, pride evident on his face. "So? Anything that catches your attention?"

>What do you do?
>Buy Xin Lan a book. (Which do you buy?)
>>The Balad of Mulan. The tale of a girl who disguises herself as a man to fight in her elderly father's place. Despite the honors she brings, she refuses them all and returns to her family.
>>The River Turns Red. The story of one of the Greatest Generals of China known for his compassion towards solider and civilian alike. He lead a small army of 500 to victory against one of 100,000.
>>The tales of Monk Ji Gong. The stories of an eccentric but kind hearted monk who uses magic and guile to help those around him.
>>Journey to the West. The story of the monkey king, Sun Wu Kong. The mythical tales of him and his band.

>Buy Renshu a book. (Which do you want?)
>>Harmony and Counter Point: Ritual Music of the Chinese Empire. A book with music that is played in common rituals and the history behind them.
>>The Royal Menagerie. Sheet music for songs commonly played in the royal palace itself as well as some music composed by the royal family themselves.
>>The Spirituality of Song. More of a philophical book, it's about the history of music and how it influenced China's spirutality and philosophy.

>Buy them both a book. It'll cost you extra and you'll only have enough money left to buy one more gift. Presumably for Ming.
>Simply pay for your things. You'll look for gifts else where. There's still 2 months left til new years. There's no rush.
>Write in.

>>4536062
This is one energetic monkey man.

>Buy them both a book
Really, Why not? It's best to get gift shopping done now anyway.

>Mulan
Nobody needs this explained to them, I hope.

>Harmony and counterpoint
Even whistling the tunes of a meditative melody could calm his raging bloodlust in the midst of combat. And out of it, something to practice his stringing with.

>>4536069
What can he say? He loves literature.

>>4536062
Gotta go with the monkey king, it's a classic

I think that Spirituality of Song could be helpfull to Renshu, maybe by reflecting on the songs ge ciuld turn into a form of metidation? Also because of his cover as a shaman, Renshu probably already know the songs used in common rituals, so Harmony and Counter Point might be redundant.

>>4536089
You make a fair point. Spirituality of song will have a few example songs anyway, if not how to devise one ourselves.

We're mostly tied on what book to get Xin Lan. Mulan or Sun Wu Kong.

>>4536162
>>4536062

Mulan ftw!!!

>>4536069
>>4536089
>>4536182
Alright. Mulan for Xin and Spirituality of Song for Renshu. Writing.

You mull over it for a moment. You weren't expecting there to be so many options truth be told. Eventually you settle on your purchases. "I'll take The Balad of Mulan and The Spirituality of Song." You say and set the books you were holding down to the side.

"Excellent!" The young man says placing the books next to your notebook. "Now let me see about that ink." He says leaping back to search once more. This time, you decide to keep talking rather than wait for things to go silent again.

"I just arrived in town. Is there a guard station around here?" You ask.

"Guard station?" The monkey asks absentmindedly. "Yes, we have one. It's on the otherside of town. You can't miss it. Don't really visit there much. It's near a tavern coincidentally. Not much there to do unless you were looking for bounties." He stands up and places a metal bottle of ink. "There we go." He says. "Found it behind the candles. Will that be all?"

"Yeah." You say digging into your bags for your money. As you pay for your things and begin to try and hide your gifts among your other objects you ask, "Is there a shrine in this town? Oh and a place to some needle and thread?" The monkey scratches his head.

"Uhh yeah..." He replies a bit confused at your choice of locations. "You can find those things at the general store." He says. "I'm afriad I don't sell those. We don't really have a shrine per say though. I mean it's a shrine but it's not really tied to anyone diety or patron. Just a place where people come and offer a prayer or two. You can find that in the center of town just a ways away from the well. Story goes that the founders put the shrine next to the well to bless their water and village."

"Interesting. Thanks for the directions." You say as you finish up packing your things. "And for the suggestion on books." The monkey bows.

"It do what I can. If you need anymore suggestions feel free to stop on by!" He says. You bid your goodbyes and head out, satified in your purchases.

>Where do you go next?
>Go check out the guard station.
>Find the shrine near the well.
>Head to the general store.
>Find an inn to spend the night at.
>Write in.

>>4536259
>Head to the general store, then hit the shrine

>>4536265
Support, without inner peace we are going to need those candles and incense to talk to dragon-bro

Gonna make some lunch. I'll count votes when I get back.

>>4536269
Maybe a bit of incense to relax and calm

>>4536298
But get mings gift first, even if we cant get incense because of it.

I just had a thought,

The huns, mongols, turks and other nomad barbarians that threatened and invaded China were all mounted shepards right? And were difficult to deal with because they were a mobile army that could always retreat to a barren territory.

How do they work on this universe? Do they just run really fast? Are they cannibal slavers?

>>4536265
>>4536269
Buying stuff then hitting the shrine. Writing.

>>4536312
From what little I remember they were well known for being mounted archers. So as funny as it is to imagine animal people riding on each other's shoulders, I'm going to say they run pretty fast or at least employ the fastest species for what would have been mounted tactics to draw the opposing troops into prime arrow volley range. They could be slavers. Haven't thought of that bit yet.

>>4536357
They were renowed mounted archers, but had quite a lot of melee cavalry and some foot skirmisher too (manly the poorer and younger). Also their diet was near exclusively meat and milk.

You still had plenty of time before you needed to return to your meeting spot so you decide to make your way to the general store. By this time, the townspeople were beginning to start their afternoon duties. Many were heading to the shops to either buy ingredients for their afternoon meals, heading to the tavern for a drink right before heading home, or generally speaking to others in general gossip. As you travel through the town, you begin to feel a bit odd. You immediately notice, that your surrounding area was quiet. Too quiet. It becomes increasingly apparent that the towns folk would go quiet as you approached. Hushed whispers and mutterings would immediately ensue as you walked by though no one did anything beyond that other than stare. You feel a bit unnerved but continue on your way as you assume spending the past year trying to keep your identity a secret has left you a bit unprepared for having attention on you. When you enter the general store, you feel a bit more comfortable now that you were away from prying eyes. An eldery goat was working at the counter and she gives you a polite wave.

"Hello there." She says politely. "I don't think I've ever seen you around town. Is there something I can do for you dearie?" You nod.

"I'm looking for a sewing kit and needle. Preferably one that's pretty robust and versatile. It's meant for travel." You explain. The old woman nods.

"Oh we get that request often." She says as she wanders to a shelf. "Travelers and soldiers alike ask for them."

"Soldiers?" You ask. "You mean the guards at the garrison here?"

"Oh no. There's been a few of the imperial guard that have passed through town." She says placing a few boxes on the counter. "What with the raids that have happened these past few months." She grabs one last box and sets it on the counter. "Now...I have a few sets of these. Let's me see..." She says thinking as she looks through one. "Yes, I remember. Now, which would you like? I have one with more needles than thread. Perfect for you if you plan to alter or mend different kinds of clothing but don't care for what material you're using to mend. The needles are of various sizes so you always have the right one for the job. Then on the other end I have one with various threads and spools. In case you're mending different kinds of clothing and want the stiches to match the clothes and their material but it kind of took up a lot of room so you won't have much needle variety. Of course I do have one that's simply the basics in needles and thread. Which would you like sweetie?" She asks.

>Which do you pick?
>The needle based kit. Best for Ming to have as many tools at her disposal. You doubt you and...your siblings(?) care for what material is used for repairs...well Xin Lan might pretend to.
>The thread based kit. Ming might still be a beginner, so it would be best for her to get practice with as many material types first. Plus it would allow her to experiment and get used to how different threads work or look.
>The balanced kit. It's the safest option and you're sure Ming isn't specifically looking for anything at the moment.
>Look for something else that you could buy as a gift.
>Write in.

>Would you like to ask the elderly store keeper anything?
>Yes (what do you ask?)
>No

>>4536384
Hmmm...I'm guessing this is another point where the setting starts to fall apart when you put it under scrutiny isn't it?

>>4536454
>>The needle based kit. Best for Ming to have as many tools at her disposal. You doubt you and...your siblings(?) care for what material is used for repairs...well Xin Lan might pretend to

>>4536454
Needle based kit.

It will also make for good improvised throwing weapons when her style is developed.

I will be ready to run in about roughly an hour. Looks we'll be getting the needle heavy kit for Ming.

>>4536454
>based needle kit

Fixed it for you mate.

>>4536643
>>4536769
Buying the kit with various needles in it. Writing.

>>4537240
Much appreciated my guy.

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94 KB JPG

"I'd like the needle kit please." You say pointing to it. The old woman takes the box and double checks to make sure it is the correct one before putting away the rest of the kits. You pay for your purchase, spending the last of your savings for personal purchases. "Thank you." You say as you kneel to wrap the box up in some of your clothes to keep it hidden. Part of you wonders how necessary this was considering you doubt that your friends would search through your things without your permission but another part feels a little bit more at ease that they wouldn't be able to see them by accident.

"Will there be anything else dear?" The old woman asks but you shake your head.

"Not right now." You say. "But I might be back later for travel rations." The old woman nods.

"Then I'll keep a few saved for you dearie." She says politely. You give the old woman your thanks and head out to make your way to the shrine the book store clerk mentioned. You head back to the center of town and try not to pay too much mind to the hushed whispers and stares around you. Part of you wishes you still had your hat to conceal your face but there was not much you can do. You're somewhat thankful that you and the others had decided to wash your clothes soon after after you left Yunnan or else your shirt would still be covered in Mei Ling's blood. You find the shrine soon enough though it's far more humble than any shrine you've seen on your travels so far. It was a simple thing, just a small pedestal with a smaller statue of a dragon on it. Surrounding the statue were small candles and sticks of incense as well as a small donation box at the base of the statue. To finish it off the shrine had a small wooden roof held up by four columns. As you arrive, you find it to be empty be it because of your presence or simply because it was ignored you cannot say but at least you had it all to yourself.

>What do you do?
>Offer a small prayer and dontation. You're not sure what you can do with a shrine this small but perhaps your small show of respect is enough.
>Try and meditate here. Perhaps you might be able to speak to a sprite or spirit. You're unsure if you could even visit Shenlong from here as it's not a shrine dedicated to him or anyone to be honest.
>Do nothing. The shrine isn't really what you expected it to be. It's too small and really more as a token effort to appease the spirits. It probably contains no power.
>Write in.

>>4537369
>Try and meditate.
Even the smallest tokens of appreciation are appreciated in turn. A pebble becomes ripples and proof we have not forgotten - Oogway, probably

>>4537375
Gonna try and meditate. Writing.

You sit down, back against the shrine, and close your eyes as you try to meditate. You struggle to push away the sounds around you, the feeling of the sun and wind on your fur. You take a deep breath and exhale as you roll your neck a bit and adjust your shoulders as you try to relax. A few mintues pass and you find yourself focusing more on keeping your breathing even than clearing your thoughts. You shake your head. Again you try once more to slip into the sea of unconciousness as reach out with your feelings. You feel like your fighting yourself, fighting your thoughts, as you slip away and the sounds around you fade away for the most part. You can still hear everything at the precipice of your counciousness. You reach out to feel the elements and find yourself bound to your body. The sounds around you seem to grow louder.

You frown and furrow your brow and you focus as hard as you can. The din around you grows even louder, the sounds of people drowning out your other senses. Through all that you can just barely feel the whisper of the wind if only that. The rumble of the earth, the energy of fire, the rush of water are all gone and impossible to sense. You growl quietly as your frustration mounts and the sounds around you grow louder still. You try to reach out, to claw at those whispers that you're starting to doubt are even there to begin with but you can't. Locked to your body like some kind of novice, you finally succumb to your frustrations and break your focus to listen to the noise around you as if you could glare at it and make it go away.

All you hear is screams.

Not screams of people around you but screams of the damned. The same screams that drowned you while you added your own. The same screams that plague your nightmares and the screams that could only come from true and utter suffering. You feel stiches in your chest as you struggle to breathe and you desperately try to go back, to slip back to your body. Mercifully for you, you easily break your trance and find yourself panting heavily. You look around as your heart threatens to break out of your chest. The townsfolk stare at you oddly though you assume it's due to some stranger sitting at their shrine and meditating than anything else. You feel your eyes sting and instinctively you rub them. Your hands come back wet and you know it's not sweat.

>What do you do?
>Leave. You don't know where to go but you just want to go away. Wander the town for a while.
>Head back to the well and wait for your friends while you try not to let the event dampen your day.
>Offer a prayer and this time and apology. You can't talk to your friends of the other side just yet. But you will. You won't abandon them.
>Try to meditate again. You can't let this beat you. Not like this. When you were young, you never let injuries stop you from training. If you broke an arm, you used the other. If you pulled a muscle you pushed through the pain. This is no different.
>Write in.

>>4537515
>Count to ten, focus on our breathing until we are composed a bit more and then try meditating again. We now know what not to focus on.

>>4537529
Come on Tai Lung, this won't keep you down. You've suffered the single worst designed fate in reality, used your experience suffering and bounce back.

>>4537515
>Try to meditate again. You can't let this beat you. Not like this. When you were young, you never let injuries stop you from training. If you broke an arm, you used the other. If you pulled a muscle you pushed through the pain. This is no different.

>>4537529
>>4537544
Gonna try to force it. Writing.

You sniff and fight back the choking feeling of something unwated rising your in your throat. The echoes of the screams linger in your memory before they fade away and you look up to the afternoon sky. The sun had begun to set and the sky was now tinged with shades of orange and yellow. You can feel your heart thumping in your chest and you practice your breathing as you try to calm your self down. The people around you move on to resume their daily lives once more. You wait a few moments before you close your eyes and try to ease yourself back into meditating. Doing so is now harder than ever as you still feel a bit shaken and frustrated. You try to push everything around you away and submerge yourself once more but struggle. Even as you try to ignore everything around you, you mentally flinch away from noise and other things.

You're stuck, unsure whether or not what you might feel out are your friends in the elements or if they're remnants of your time in Hell. You want to reach out and feel for the spirits but you don't want hear the screams burned into your mind, the pain of you punishments. You feel trapped within yourself, unable to venture beyond the comfort of the mortal realm, unable to push beyond the safety net you've set up in your mind. It's as if you're afraid to venture beyond your body for fear of slipping back into Yánluówáng's court. You find yourself holding your head in your hands, angry and frustrated. It shouldn't be this hard. Why were you struggling? You spent years studying how to do this in Eureka and with a gift that most monks would only dream about. You resist the urge to punch the dragon statue and break something simply to vent. You resent the burning feeling in your eyes, the stream running down your cheeks. You felt empty, disconnected. It's as if a part of you was missing. As if you were blinded and deafened. You never realized how much you relied on your blessing, how it connected you to everything around you in ways you didn't understand until now. Part of you wonders if this is how Renshu felt growing up, unable to stop the voices while meditating. You bury your face in your knees unable to admit defeat but unable to do anything to disprove your failure.

You finally gather yourself and stand up. The sun was nearly gone but you think you have enough time to do one more thing, or at least avoid meeting your friends for a while. You sling your bag over your shoulder and look around ashamed and hoping no one was staring. Luckily for you, you're largely ignored. Occasionally someone glances your way, but no one pays your any real attention. You sigh and wonder what to do.

>What do you do?
>Go to the well and wait for your friends. You think you've had enough for today. Hopefully they don't ask how you're doing.
>Go find a place to eat. Maybe you can avoid talking to everyone if you deflect and lead them to a place to eat.
>Find a place to eat. If you're really not up to it, you can at least let them know where you will all be eating and use the excuse of not feeling well to sleep early.
>Go to the guard station. Perhaps they have information on the raids. Maybe you can bury yourself in your task and keep your mind off of things.
>Write in.

>>4537623
>Offer an apology to the wind, We'll break through eventually.
>Find a place to eat, it'd be best to lead them to something to eat that they like, and food will numb our self loathing.

>>4537623
>>Go to the well and wait for your friends. You think you've had enough for today. Hopefully they don't ask how you're doing.
>>Go find a place to eat. Maybe you can avoid talking to everyone if you deflect and lead them to a place to eat.

I'm not sure you know, when should we swallow our pride and tell the others.

We should probably talk to the others soon-ish about the problem. Maybe tonight after dinner, send renshu to inform the guards about the decimation of the other town while we fill in Xin and Ming.
Demonstrate we trust them enough to let our guard down a bit, given the trauma is about two weeks old at this point and we're not getting any worse.

I'm gonna make dinner. So i'll count votes when I get back.

>>4537646

Seconding this

>>4537671
it's more a plan for us to do when the options come up after dinner, not something to vote for right now mate.

>>4537623
>Offer a prayer. This isn't a failure. You only fail when you give up trying.
>Food

>>4537627
>>4537630
>>4537692
Apologize and go find a place to eat. Writing.

You slowly get to your feet and wipe your eyes before offering a prayer to the wind. "I'm sorry." You whisper. You're unsure what else to say at the moment but you know that it won't end like this. You couldn't just let it stay this way. However, right now you're unsure what you can do. This wasn't something you could simply muscle your way through. You were hurting in the one place you simply couldn't swap out or ignore. The very core of your being, your will. You stand there ashamed at your weakness and it hits you. Did Yánluówáng plan this? Was this some kind of divine punishment for overstepping your bounds? With your mental state being like this, were you meant to fail your trial of reforming Renshu? You had indeed challenged the very laws of nature. Decided, in your arrogance, that the rules of the world should bend to your desires. You shudder at the weight of those thoughts and can feel it lay heavily on your shoulders. You had let success get to your head and like a child who learned a new move, decided to challange someone far beyond your level. Perhaps this was what you deserved indeed.

But even as you wallow in your self loathing, in the far reaches of your mind, a small spark still flickered.

No.

No, you wouldn't fail. No, you wouldn't simply let Renshu die like that. No, you wouldn't let this stop you. These thoughts, however, were weak. Small reassurances to help you take the one step after another and nothing more. They didn't change anything. They didn't help you regain what you lost...and yet you couldn't let that flame die out. You shielded it, desperate to keep those thoughts going. Such a small spark reminds you of Xin Lan. The tiny dying spark of hope that is now a raging, roaring inferno. One that nearly blinded you and forced you out of your meditation. You now hope that your small spark will grow in time. You sigh and rub the back of your neck. You felt like you did when you first started your journey. Uncertain and on edge.

Your aimless wandering carries you down the town's main street. You keep an eye out for someplace to catch your fancy. One place manages to catch your attention. A small place named A Taste of Heaven. You supress a snort at the coincidence. Still, the place looked inviting enough. The front of the building was open and several tables lined the inside and outside. One each table was a nice candle lit lantern. In the setting sun they emitted a warm, welcoming, light. The smell of noodles and various other fired dishes wafted out from the inside making your stomach growl. You can see a few families eating inside, adding to the homely atmosphere. It was a good a place as any.

---

Upon returning to the town well, you find that your friends are already waiting for you. "Ah, you've returned." Renshu says with smile though he gives you a concerned look as he seems to look both at you and beyond you. Keeping whatever he was thinking hidden he continues, tone unchanged and controlled. "We had arrived only a few minutes prior. Have you found what you were searching for?" You nod.

"Yeah." You say quietly before adding. "I also found a place to eat too. You guys hungry?"

"Famished." Ming says. "What'd you find?" She asks.

"Hopefully some place that has fired food." Xin Lan says stretching. "I could go for something nice and crunchy."

"You keep looking for fried food and it'll go somewhere other than that cottontail of yours." Ming teases. Xin Lan stick out their tongue and wiggles their tail.

"No surprises you'd notice. I've caught you staring before." They joke before clapping their hands together. "So. Food?"

"It smelled good." You say, feeling some warmth return to you and a bit of weight removed from your shoulders as you listen to your friends joke around. "It's called a A Taste of Heaven. Knowing a certain someone, they'll be heading there if they don't curb their appetite." Xin Lan shoots you a grin.

"I can handle any meal...that is delicious." They add quickly. "Don't think I forgot the time you burned the water." They say. Frankly you yourself constantly wonder how you managed to turn a pot of pure water into a black burnt sludge. Luckily for you and your ego, it was a one time thing.

"Perhaps we should head towards the diner." Renshu suggests. "Before they close and we're left to wonder exactly what heaven tastes like." He says eyeing the darkening skies. You and your group make your way towards the small diner and choose to sit down at an outside table. The small lantern glowed brightly in the night and the others that dangled around the eating area provided ample illumination for you to read the menu. Not really wanting your friends to ask you about how your day was you choose to lead the conversation.

>What do you say?
>Ask your friends if they found what they were looking for. Just make simple small talk while they order.
>Ask Ming if she found what she needed to enact the plan against the raiders. Perhaps you can get an idea of how long you'll need to stay.
>Ask if anyone found a place to sleep. Hopefully you won't need to camp out tonight.
>Write in.

>>4537916

>Ask your friends if they found what they were looking for. Just make simple small talk while they order.
>Ask Ming if she found what she needed to enact the plan against the raiders. Perhaps you can get an idea of how long you'll need to stay.
>Ask if anyone found a place to sleep. Hopefully you won't need to camp out tonight.
>Write in.

After meal when everyone is settled in private gather the party around and tell them about what happened.

and give a big boi hug

>>4537986
Always want those big boi hugs. I guess we're doing them all. Writing.

>>4537986

Support

"Did you guys find what you were looking for?" You ask trying to sound casual as you glance at the menu.

"I did." Xin Lan says. "Got two dresses but I swear if they get damaged because of our adventures I'm going to make you buy me a new one." They threaten, waving a pair of chopsticks around. "They're nice clothes." They grumble. Ming simply pokes their head.

"Then maybe we should work harder to not get into too much trouble." She teases and turns to place her order.

"I also have had luck in finding my purchases." Renshu says folding his menu and taking a sip of his drink. "This town seems to have several shops for things other than the basic nessecities. One which happened to sell instruments. Though it will take them a bit to restring the instrument, I'm quite happy with my purchase."

"So you'll be playing music when we set up camp then?" Ming asks. "That'd be a nice change of pace. Although I do find the sound of a campfire in the quite forest to be kind of relaxing." She admits. "How are you going to carry it around?" She asks. "On your back?" Renshu nods.

"I have had it fitted for travel." He says. "It should not impact the quality of the music it makes."

"What about you Ming?" You ask. "You never did say if you were looking for anything in particular."

"Oh, I spent most of my day going through a few medicine shops and produce stalls." She admits before looking around to see if anyone was listening in. "You know...for the plan." She whispers.

"Well did you find anything...for the plan?" You ask amused.

"Well I was going to ask Renshu for help but then we all kind of got distracted." She admits. Even Renshu seems a bit confused by that.

"My help?" He asks. "While I am always willing to assist you Miss Ming, I'm afraid my knowledge of alchemy tends to be...well not quite less than lethal." He says.

"That's true but given your...um...older profession. You do know more about how much the body can take when it comes to that stuff. Plus it'd help to have someone else who I can bounce ideas off of too." She admits. "Give the fact we'll be dealing with a horde of enemies. I might have to use a brew or potion that is more potent than abundant. Which tends to come with it's own slew of problems."

"Like what?" You ask.

"Well in a practical sense, and in the way we'll be using it, there's no guarentee, or way to make it happen, that everyone will receive and equal dose of whatever we decide to use. If someone gets too much then they run the real risk of it becoming a lethal dose. The other way around is that if we focus on making a ton of less potent mixtures, then there's chances they won't get enough for it to take effect." She explains. "At the moment I'm hesistant to choose between the two to be honest."

"I mean if you need help, I can pitch in too." Xin Lan says. "What? I had to same job too you know!" They go silent as everyone's meals are brought to the table. Once the area was clear, they poke at their food and continue. "Seems like the first thing you need to decide is the vector you want to use." They say. "Do you want it to be airborne? Or is it via skin contact? Do you want it fast acting or a slower reaction? Once we decide these kinds of things, we can figure how how potent to make it or how to structure our plan around that." They say taking a large bite out of a bean bun. "Wut?" They ask, mouth full. "I'm really really good at my job."

"Unfortunately." Renshu says sadly.

Ming frowns at that but starts to think. "You're right though. I hadn't really considered those kinds of things. Just what the effects I wanted. I'm not really used to thinking about using my medicines on completely unwilling participants or for combat." She looks at you. "What do you think we should use? You'll be in the front lines and you know more about fighting than any one of us. What kind of approach should we take?"

>What do you say?
>Tell Ming that something that goes through the skin would be best. If it's a gas cloud, you run the risk of inhaling it yourself even if she were to drop it dead center of the group and leaving you to clean up the front liners.
>Say that a cloud based mixture would be best. Everyone has to breathe and even if your opponents hold their breath, it'll wear them out as they fight and they'll either fall from exhaustion or breathe in to continue. Plus armor won't help them.
>Write in

>On the subject of potency. What do you want?
>Tell Ming that she should focus on a longer lasting but slower acting mixture. You and the others can hold the line for a while. The real issue starts when they wake up before you've bound them all. Having it last longer would be more benificial.
>Say that a faster acting mixture would work. While you can the other can hold them off for a while, the longer the fight goes on, the more chances there are for someone to get lucky and deal a devestating hit. The sooner you can end the fight the better, just like with your own fighting style.
>Write in.

I have a potential idea. Most armies of the time, even raiders, cook in a big ass pot. They keep the fire going while serving it up to everyone to keep the food warm, and might huddle around it after if it’s a cold night. They probably test the food for poison given its a foreign land...but they would never test the wood. If we soak a medicinal oil into their wood supplies, that vaporizes when heated, we can get them to knock themselves out or at least ensure that night’s sleep is ESPECIALLY deep.
Taking a page from the rose, as it were.

>>4538128
Make it look like a mist or a fog, and have it be slow acting, and you basically golden. They'd set up camp, eat, and eventually fall into a deep sleep. Probably won't even have to fight them, or atleast most of them when we do make our move against them.

>>4538128
I don't think they would test the pot for poison, but there would be an unequal amount of distribution.

But we'd also need some protection for when we are entering the camp.

>>4538281
Do we still have them masks?
Or maybe we can also manufacture something that will help counteract the drug, which we can take before entering.

>>4538356
Ming had A mask, but a soaked bandana could work.

Maybe sweet pea mixture.

>>4538359
Or another idea I hadn't considered.
Make it weak as shit, such that it only makes them tired to high heaven. So when they eat it, they cannot actually die of overdose unless they were draining a barrel of the stuff.

An army of weary, over stuffed mongols should make fighting them OHKO each and every time

So what's the verdict then? Slow poison?

>>4538565
We don't seem to have come to a cohesive verdict, but the plan seems to be related to poisoning the wood for fires in their camp and then strolling in when the mist-looking fumes have set them all to a deep sleep in the middle of the night

>>4538570
to whit, Slow liquid poision which shall become fumes when exposed to heat, thusly rendering the sniffer either unconscious or when they sleep do so very heavily.

Alright I can work with that. I'll get to writing. Today might be a short day however, have something that might come up that'll keep me busy but it's not definite.

You think for a bit. "What if we don't need to lead them to a mountain pass?" You ask. "What if we can get them while they're camping? If we're going to use fumes could we simply make it them and knock them out? Like the incense..." You say as you start to formulate a plan. "They have to make a fire place to cook their food or keep warm. What if we were to douse their firewood with something so when it's burned, it releases a cloud of the mixture to knock them out? Even if they don't get knocked out from inhaling it, they'll at least be worse off and will be easier to engage."

Ming thinks about it for a bit. "That could work..." She says. "But it would depends on a lot of things. The fumes would have to at least be translucent which shouldn't be too much of a problem but then they have to be heavy enough so they don't simply float into the air harmlessly." Ming digs through her bag next to her chair and pulls out her notebook.

"Come on Ming." Xin Lan says. "Not during dinner." They sigh and chew on an eggroll. "You'll need it to be very slow acting. Otherwise, people are going to get suspicious that people are falling unconcious all around them. If you can make it happen slowly, and make it look like they're just falling asleep, a very deep sleep, then everyone will continue to go to the source." They say. "Honestly, it'd be easier to drug the food."

"Presuming, they don't test their food for poison." Renshu says. "Though I wouldn't see why they would."

"If we target the food, then they'll taste it." Xin Lan counters. "Having it come from the fire, it'll at least be masked by the smell of smoke."

"Yes but how do we target their firewood?" Renshu says. "We don't even know if the group has a stock of it or simply cuts it down as they need it."

"Come on Stripes...." Xin Lan replies as they reach for Ming's plate while she was buried in her notebook only to have their hand smacked away. They grin and motion at her. "See? She's got the senses of a martial artist already." They joke and go back to their own meal. "Anyways, Stripes a group that large would have to have a stock pile somewhere. The more times they have to go out to gather firewood, the more chances they'll be discovered."

"Not if they're hiding within the ruins of their conquests. Most people will be avoiding such places. By gathering only when required, they limit the movement of their troops outside of that area. Mass gathering of timber, while it does keep them from leaving their hideout, will leave much more tracks for any guards searching for them." Renshu explains. "By limiting their numbers, it will be easily confused for an average camper."

"Alright you two." You say amused at the back and forth. You grab a meat bun and serve yourself some rice. "Clearly my plan isn't perfect but it's a start. We can debate the details later. First let's see if Ming can even get this going. What do you think so far?" You ask her. Ming looks up from her notes a bit distracted.

"Oh uhh..." She looks at her book. "Well I think it can be done." She says. "In fact I'm sure it can but I just need to study what I have to work with a bit more. I'll need some help. I know poisons and sedatives but never considered using them like this. Xin and Renshu have more experience with this kind of stuff. Once I know what ingredients I'm dabbling with, I can give you an estimate of how long I'll need." She closes her book and sips at her soup. "But the firewood idea will require less set up than the idea of using a mountain pass. Breaking things down, the mountain pass idea makes it easier to target the group as a whole. We're not sure if everyone will be going to the campfire or if they're using multiple. By dumping the sedative on them we have better controll over who gets a dose. The campfire plan is more subtle however, and while we might not hit everyone, we'll be able to incapacitate people without engaging them directly and we'll need a lot less of the concoction made." You nod.

"Well we'll save that stuff for later." You say and take a bite of your food. "Speaking of later, did anyone find a place to stay?" You ask. "We do need somewhere to sleep."

"I did." Renshu says. "There is an inn with a few vacancies in town. The rooms are large enough to accomodate two people each. We might be able to save some money by sharing a room."

"That's good..." Your voice trails off.

"What's wrong?" Xin Lan asks.

"Nothing." You muse. "I've just realized I haven't slept in an actual bed for about 20 years...and it's going to go on for 21." Your friends all stop eating to look at you.

"You're joking." Xin Lan says.

"No." You say finally laughing out loud as the revelation sets in. "I haven't had the chance." Your friends all remain quiet.

>What do you say?
>Ask your friends something else. There's still a bit of food left to eat. Some more small talk won't hurt. (What do you talk about)
>Tell your friends that you all can go find a bed to sleep in once you are all done eating. (Skip ahead)
>Write in.

>>4538683
>Let them all finish eating, then it's time to let ming and Xin in on what's wrong with us.

Lets have a nice meal, then when we get a bit more privacy we should tell them about going to hell and how much that's fucked us up.
Gotta trust our friends after all.

>>4538694

+1

>>4538694
>>4538707
I'm back. Sorry about that. Things took longer than expected. We're gonna tell everyone what went down in Hell. Writing.

You and your friends continue to chat and eat throughout the evening. You talk about mundane things such as favorite meals, times your cooking failed, and various other unimportant subjects. Things you would've scoffed at back when you were at the Jade Palace. Back then, you'd have considered it a sign of weakness. What did you need others for when you were the best? What good was small talk when you could force your will on others? As you finish your drink and set it down, you feel a certain warmth envelop you. Not from your drink or from the hot meal but just a general fuzzy feeling. It takes you a bit to realize you were happy. This was what friendship was like. It wasn't just relying on others to assistance or strength. Or helping those in need. It was also just...being with others. Enjoying their company and learning to relax with them.

As if Xin Lan was reading your mind, they put down their cup and say quietly, "So this is what having friends is like?" They ask. Ming gently sets her notebook down.

"Like what Xin?" She asks gently.

"I don't know. I just feel...nice." They say. "Relaxed and content...and just nice. I'm assuming it's friendship because I don't feel like this when I interact with other people. Just you guys." Ming and Renshu smile gently.

"Yes little one." Renshu says pulling Xin Lan close and hugging them. "That is friendship. Treasure it always." He whispers.

"It is a nice feeling isn't it?" Ming admits. "Even with the people I used to hang around with back home...it didn't really feel like this. It's gotta be true friendship and I'm glad I could experience this with you guys...even if it does come with danger around every corner." She jokes.

"I've never felt this way before either." You admit. "Growing up, such things...I always felt they were for weak people. Why did I need friends when I was the strongest person around?" You play with a chopstick as your flip it around your fingers while you mull over something. "I don't know. Maybe if I had friends, I wouldn't have ended up like this. Maybe if I tried to learn more about others, I wouldn't have gone down the path I did...I guess in the end, I was the weak one. Unable to admit and open up to others, I hid like a coward and scared those who wanted to come close."

"Then I am glad that I am learning about such things with you." Xin Lan says. "I think experiencing these things for the first time together only serves to strengthen our friendship."

"Stop it you two." Ming says rubbing her eyes. "You guys are gonna make me cry...so sweet. I swear you two are my favorite idiots." You smile.

"I don't think you'd want it any other way." You say looking up at the stars. She was right though. It was a geuinely nice feeling to be around your friends and spend time with them. However, something constantly gnaws at you and your happiness. It tints everything with worry and unease. You've been trying to ignore it but it always comes back up. Even trying to ignore it brings tinges of your time in Yánluówáng's courts. You supress a sigh and force yourself to face it. Your friends had to know, they were worried about you and you had learned your lesson in keeping things from them. But how could you? They relied on you for strength. This wasn't a matter of your ego. It wasn't fear of appearing weak or less of man. You were afraid of the effect it would have on your friends. Could you place your burdens on them? Part of you demands that you do, this was why they were your friends. So that they could shoulder your burdens. So that they could feel your pain with you. But another part wants your friends to remain as they were. Untainted and oblivious. Better than they remain happy and none the wiser. You couldn't harm them like this.

In the end, you decide that you would tell them. It was their right as your friends and your duty as theirs. "I think we should head off." You say. "Pretty sure we're the only people keeping this place open now and I'm sure Xin has eaten half their stores." Xin Lan smiles.

"They should be honored." They say, slipping back on their mask. "I say it's the mark of a good eatery that I eat as much as I did."

"Or it could be that you have no self control." Ming counters. Xin Lan simply sticks their tongue out at her.

"Where did you say this inn was?" You ask Renshu.

"It's not to far away." He says. "I suspect they'd be eager to accomedate us. They seemed a bit empty no doubt due to recent events."

---

You take the two rooms keys from the old man and meet up with your friends. Handing one to Ming you hesistate a bit. "What's wrong?" She asks looking at you with concern. "Meal not settling well for you? I have something I can give you for that." You shake your head and wonder how to tell your friends you wanted to talk to them about what you went through as your worries flare up once more.

>What do you say?
>Tell your friends the truth. You want to talk to them about what's been bothering you but you're afraid that being vulnerable would negatively effect them.
>Shake your head and simply say you want to talk to them in private once they settled into their room. You can gather your thoughts during that time.
>Lie. Say that nothing's wrong. Maybe it's not the right time to speak about this right now.
>Write in.

>>4539117
>Tell the truth, I want to talk about what's made me uneasy, but I dont want to burden you guys with it. It feels like ruining a good dinner.

>>4539125

+1

>>4539125
>>4539165
Gotta put faith in our friends. Writing.

"I...want to talk to you all in private." You say quietly. "It's about what happened back in Yunnan...but..." You go quiet.

"You can tell us." Ming says placing a hand on your arm. "What's wrong?"

"I'm afraid." You say numbly. "I'm afraid that it'll affect you all. I don't want to burden you. You rely on me and I don't want you all to lose that. it's been a good day and I don't want to ruin it."

"It's alright." Ming says gently. "We all have our burdens. We've relied on you. Now it's our turn to take the burden off of your shoulders." She says. You shake your head.

"I'm afraid this isn't something you can shoulder." You say. "But it's something you deserve to know. I'll be in my room waiting." You give Ming her key and wander off to find the room to your key feeling the weight of everything on your shoulders.

The room you were going to share was a small one. Enough that you were surprised that they managed to fit two beds in. You sit down on one and lay on it, finally breaking your 20 year record. You frown a bit. After so many years of sleeping on the ground and on hard surfaces this bed felt...wrong. It was too soft, too eager to envelop you. You sigh and sit up. It seems like everything was trying to ruin your day now. You mull over what you want to tell your friends or rather how you want to tell them. You don't have much time to think as you soon hear a knock on the door.

"Hey can we come in?" Xin Lan asks. You want to simply nod but knowing they can't see you, you force yourself to speak.

"Yeah...come in." You say. Your voice sounds hollow and empty. You didn't intend for it to come out like that. The door to your room opens and all three of your companions come in.

"Sorry." Ming says closing the door behind her. "We wanted to give you some time to gather your thoughts."

"It's alright..." You say quietly once again forcing yourself to speak and to look at your friends. "I couldn't really think of anything to be honest." You admit and motion for your friends to take a seat on the bed opposite to you. They do and remain quiet so as to let you speak at your own pace. Finally, after you could not longer find a reason to keep quiet you speak.

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https://youtu.be/kuySo0QDFis

"I don't...I can't..." You start and stop. You look down at your hands, unable to face your friends. "I don't know what to say..." You say quietly.

"Tell us what happened." Ming says softly. "Just start from the beginning."

You nod and recount your tale. Of how you found Renshu among the spirits, how you went to Yánluówáng's court, how you bartered with the Great Judge, and...you stop once more and squeeze your hands. "I can't..." You whisper. "I can't..." Your face burns with shame and your eyes sting. You were angry, frustrated, ashamed...scared. Your breath is ragged and your chest tightens as you clench your teeth and simply wish for it all to go away. You find yourself spiraling again, descending into a circle of self loathing and unable to continue as the room slowly fades...until you feel something touch your arm.

"Let it out." Xin Lan says quietly looking deep into your eyes. "Don't hold it in. Feeling emotions also means being able to express them. Don't let them fester inside you and rot. Don't make the same mistakes again." You choke a bit as your face scrunches up and you break down. It had been years, decades, since you cried. Your tears burn your face as you can't help but feel ashamed once more. Though your tears you choke out your experience. The endless cycle of torture and the unending sorrow. The countless deaths you suffered that brought you no respite.

"I can't do it again." You say. "I don't think I ever can. I hear the voices at night. I feel the pain in my dreams. When I awake I don't know where I am. I don't know if I'm free. Nothing feels right anymore and every thing is tinted and faded. I feel like I'm wandering and I can't find my way." You gasp. "Even when I'm with you all and we're enjoying everything I feel that worry eating at the edge of my mind. I can no longer speak with the spirits. All I hear are the screams of the damned. I can't reach out for fear of going back there. I'm trapped and I fee blind again. Like something is missing." You bury your face in your hands. "In the end when everything is dark I wonder if it was all worth it. I don't know anymore. I want to say that is was, that I helped someone else get their second chance but I can't help but doubt it. It's not like before. I can't just convince myself that everything will be right again."

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Xin Lan holds you and wraps their arms around you as best they can. Ming flings herself on you and does the same while Renshu can only place his hand on your back and feel ashamed at himself, unable to look at the man who saved him. The man who he pledged his life to now knowing that such a thing is trifle compared to what you gave up. "It was worth it." Ming says as her eyes water. "No one can ever tell you otherwise. No one can say that it isn't. You can't say this makes you weak. You just can't. Not after what you told me back in Zhengyi. Not after all you've been through. We'll help you. You can beat this...you're a good man Tai Lung." She says sobbing and tightening her hold on you. "I don't care what you did before we met. You're...you're a good man."

"You gave me back my family." Xin Lan says looking at you. "You helped me get emotions. I want to hurt for you because of this. I want to help you and I'll do anything to make your pain go away." They sniffle and tears run down their eyes as well. "You're...you're my best friend." They say firmly and without any doubt. You pull your friends into a tight hug and look up at the ceiling. You sob and the tears no longer burn your face because you don't feel shame. Because you have people who care about you. Even though you've always known it, now is the time you truly felt it for the first time. You're no longer alone...

---

You're not sure how long you spent with your friends crying and sharing your burdens with them. You're not even really sure when you fell into a dreamless sleep. When you wake up, it's late into the morning. Your body feels stiff and tense as if you didn't get any sleep at all. You feel a weight around you and you see that it's Ming and Xin at either of your sides, fast asleep and holding on to you tightly. Glancing over to your side, you see Renshu not on the other bed but on the floor in a meditative position, one you recognize as a position of penance and self punishment. You lay there, letting the misery wash over you as you go over the events of last night and not wanting to get up and face your friends.

>What do you do? How do you feel?
>Lay there. You don't want to do anything. You don't mind letting time slip by. Right now you just don't want to do anything.
>Slowly get up and try not to wake your friends. Go someplace to simply sit and think. Maybe the roof. Talking to your friends didn't fix anything nor did you expect it to but now that you've aired out your burdens you feel you're on the precipice of something. Perhaps now is the best time to reaffirm yourself.
>Sit up and wake up your friends. Tell them what they mean to you. Tell them what you wanted to say last night but couldn't. Today is the day you start anew. Even if it means crawling your way there, you'll get back to the way you were. Not for you but for your friends so that you can shoulder their burdens when the time comes. So that you can be there to carry them like you always have.
>Write in.

>>4539362
>>Slowly get up and try not to wake your friends. Go someplace to simply sit and think. Maybe the roof. Talking to your friends didn't fix anything nor did you expect it to but now that you've aired out your burdens you feel you're on the precipice of something. Perhaps now is the best time to reaffirm yourself.

Maybe we need so sit and meditate under a waterfall?

>>4539362
>Slowly get up and try not to wake your friends. Go someplace to simply sit and think. Maybe the roof. Talking to your friends didn't fix anything nor did you expect it to but now that you've aired out your burdens you feel you're on the precipice of something. Perhaps now is the best time to reaffirm yourself.

More time to breathe, to think. Now is not the time to clear our mind but to ponder and let life fill us. We have lost the peace within us, and we may never get that until we fully face what we are still running from. But as of right now, China is in danger and only we are in a position to stop it.

Once these bandits are taken care of, this murderous wench stopped... If we really need to settle this discord in our heart... The only logical step towards that would be heading home to the valley and facing Shifu once more.

>>4539362
Dont wake the others. Just...go and sit somewhere for a while.
Renshu will probably wake and join us, getting meditation tips could be helpful.

>>4539633
I dont think we should go home so soon. We have others to consider and the sacred pools to find, but even so we also have places to find where Renshu can aid them.

>>4539803
But small point to notice, it was a seamless sleep instead of a nightmare. That's at least an improvement.

>>4539417
>>4539633
>>4539674
Just heading somewhere to think. Writing. Returning home and other such things are up to anons to choose if they want to.

Sorry. Got a bit of writer's block. Weird. Working through it though.

>>4540263
It's fine man, even if I find the situation slightly ironic.

Just push on through at your own pace.

>>4540266
Clearly its the writer's version of method acting. I am TL now. Probably should go back to projecting Luo.

You slowly try to get up and avoid waking up your friends so that you can go and think for a while. Both Ming and Xin Lan seem to cling on to you and tighten their hold as you try to get up presumably because they think you're tossing around in bed. You relax a bit and gently pull yourself free. The two stir slightly but make no indication that they woke up and you slip out of bed. Quietly walking around Renshu, you open the window to your room, grab the frame from the outside, and flip up on to the roof. You sit down to watch the town and it's inhabitants unsure of what really to do. You didn't expect talking about your problems to fix them immediately but you really weren't sure what to expect. As you watch the townsfolk go about their lives you wonder how to go from here. You feel somewhat better, like a burden has been lifted from your shoulders but you still feel that doubt, the disconnect from the other side. Sighing, you lay on your back and watch the skies. How would you go on from now?

You still had things to do. The Pools to find and the raiders to stop are currently your top two priorities but you're not sure if you should continue in this state. Currently you're sure you can handle things as they come physically and mentally but you simply feel incomplete. It weighs on you and you wonder if it'll get worse. What if it eats away at you? What if you lose your will to continue? You shake your head. You didn't really think that would happen but what you really worried you was becoming a burden on your friends and ultimately being unable to help them. That was the crux of it you realize. It wasn't the fear of punishment or the fear of reverting to your old self. You were afraid of being unable to help or all your efforts being for naught and leaving your friends to suffer alone. You can't help but smirk at that thought. You couldn't really say when you stopped caring for your own well being and started worrying for the sake of others.

Your thoughts are interuppted when you feel a faint movement of wind nearby. Looking around you see Renshu landing behind you and making his way towards you. Once again, like so many nights ago all he says is, "I'm sorry."

>What do you say?
>Tell Renshu that he doesn't need to be. You made your choices. Now you will live with them.
>Say that there is nothing that can be done now. For now you can only pray that things will get better.
>Tell Renshu that you don't really want to talk about anything. You just want to think.
>Write in.

>>4540289
>You don't need to be Renshu. Sorry won't help you and it doesn't comfort me, what I did I did of my own will. Now we just need to get back to getting better.
>I'm sorry for earlier though, about doubting that it was worth it.

Even though we were completely honest and open, saying that about a brother is....Kinda just bad.

>How do you make the voices in your head go away to meditate?

>>4540299
Apologizing and asking Renshu how he makes the voices go away. Writing.

"You don't need to be." You say. "Sorry won't help you and it doesn't comfort me. What I did I did it of my own will. Now we just need to get back to getting better." You sit up. "I'm sorry though...about doubting if it was worth it. It was. It always will be. I won't be the kind of man who turns his back on others simply because it's hard. It's just...it hurts." You mumble feeling like a child apologizing. "It's frustrating and I don't like it. I don't know how to deal with it. It's not like physical pain that I can ignore. It's always there and I can't find any respite." You fidget with one of the roof tiles before looking at the rabbit. "How do you do it? How do you make the voices leave to meditate?" You ask.

"I don't." Renshu replies. "I never have. The voices of the spirits are with me. When I eat, when I speak, when I sleep. It is a fact of my life."

"Then how do you do it?" You ask. "How can you meditate with all the noise?"

"I have learned to accept them." Renshu says sitting down with you. "They are a part of me as much as I am a part of them. I have learned to accept this fact...that and it took several years of alcoholism before Xin Lan gave me a reason to move on. I found something that kept me going forward. However, that is not the path you must take. What you face is not something you can simply overpower or learn to accept as a part of you." He says. "You must come to terms with what has happened, my brother. You are no longer at peace with yourself, you've lost what used to make yourself whole."

"I don't know what to do." You admit. "I just...I can't meditate I can't move on."

"You have lost touch with who you are. Your entire being is rife with self doubt. To move on, to make the voices go away, you have to come with terms with what has happened. You have to reaffirm you convictions, perhap even strengthen them into something new and stronger. This is a turning point. You have taken the first step towards recovery however." He says gently. "You have learned to accept what has happened. By telling the others you are no longer denying what has occured. Even if you told yourself that you are ok with what you went through, it means nothing if you aren't willing to bring it out into the real world. Otherwise you will simply bury it in your mind and suffer in silence."

"If that's the frist step...then what's the next?" You ask. "What do I have to do?"

Renshu shakes his head. "This is not like some kind training brother. You cannot simply move on to the next part. This will take time and it cannot be rushed. For now, we can only go at your own pace. Meditation will help but it is not the cure. The real cure lies within your heart. You are a quiet man and it has served you well. Though I am not asking you to change I will suggest that you perhaps stop meditating alone. Do it with someone else. Their presence will give you some measure of peace and some sense of safety. They will also be able to calm you if things begin to feel too overwhelming." Renshu gives you smile, one mixed with sadness, guilt, and reassurance. "You have give us so much. Hope, safety, strength...now it is our turn to repay you. Let us be your strength. Let us be your sanctuary. Things will be alright."


>What do you say?
>Ask Renshu if there is nothing else you can do? Maybe you can use incense or perhaps there is somewhere you can meditate to help this go by faster. You simply can't just sit around and hope this all goes away.
>Thank Renshu. Though you don't truly understand all of this, you hope you can rely on his wisdom and experience to help you.
>Ask Renshu about himself. Perhaps by knowing more about the man who is now your family and your friends, you can learn more about yourself and who you wish to be now.
>Write in.

>>4540443
>Thank you Renshu.
>Ask Renshu about himself [His travels to strange places, where he learnt that bizarre martial arts form, just shoot the shit like we did with Crane.]

We're no longer alone, so why not spend the time in company?

>>4540446
Just gonna make small talk with Renshu. Writing.

>>4540446
> talk about xin lan and whether or not they like snow leopards

god I haven't had time to do qsts lately rip

"Thank you." You say. "Maybe it's recent events but we have sworn brotherhood to one another and yet...I don't really know much about you." You pause. "Or about any of you." You admit. "Another one of my failings..."

"But one that is easily rectified." Renshu says happily. "What would you like to know?"

"Well...how long have you been traveling?" You ask. "Surely you've been to many interesting places."

"I have been traveling since childhood." He admits. "I spent most of my childhood out of the country actually. I was raised in Japan." You cock your head.

"Japan? You mean you and Xin are not natives of China?" You ask. Renshu shakes his head.

"No we were born here and Xin Lan was raised here as well." He says. "I, however, was not. I'm certain they have told you of their conception correct?"

"They said that they were bred to be the best." You say remembering. "Something about making the best assassin. You mentioned it too."

"Yes though it seems you forget an important detail." He says. "All others that were deemed unfit were disposed of. I lost a lot of younger brother and sisters that way." He says quietly. "As well as those from my generation. Due to my gift with sorcery and my ability to speak with the spirits, I was spared. Being able to grow the Rose also cemented my usefulness though this fact is what kept me alive after I returned. However, I was sent out of the country with my father. It was there I learned how to fight and kill."

"Is that where you learned your style? I've never seen anything like it." You admit.

Renshu smirks and turns away with a look of scorn. "My father's style." He says with contempt. "He was not a native of China. I am unsure how he joined the ranks of the organization but it was clear they wanted whatever traits he possessed. So when I was born, he took me away to be raised in Japan. He was a cruel man. My playmates were merely tools. Subjects to be experimented on by me. He would teach by example and mend my broken body so that he could 'teach' me again. Once I was fit, he would simply throw me at an opponent. I would learn or I would die. At the time Japan was going through some internal strife. A civil war of some kind and thus the streets were rife with danger. When I was 6, he abandoned me. I do not know if I failed him in some way or if this was his intent but I was alone to fend for myself. A young Chinese boy who could barely speak either language in a war torn country. My style offers no mercy, only a corrupted fascimile of what it should be because it is what I need to survive. I am a wall because I needed to be unbreakable. War was the perfect breeding ground for the child I grew up to be"

"Even my name reflects the twisted philosophy I follow. Renshu...benevolence. Overseas I was known as Chimamire no ren-shū or Bloody Renshu...bloody benevolence. I took what I needed to survive and I killed those who got in my way. It did not matter what side of that war they were in. As long I earned coin or food. In my twisted mind I thought it was enough to give them the option to stay out of my way. That was their mercy. I wouldn't be surprised if my name is still spoken as some monster. I returned on my own...once I was bored of killing over there. I had one thought in my mind. Revenge."

"Your father." You say quietly. Renshu let's out an uncharacteristic scoff.

"Yes. My 'father'. A title he only bore because his blood flows in me. I murdered him infront of my mother. He had raised a monster and even at at the age of 12 he was no match for his creation. It is the one murder I will never regret. Not when I think what he would have done to Xin Lan though will admit they were not born at the time and played no part in my reasoning."

"So you and Xin aren't related by blood?" You ask.

"We share a mother." He says. "And that is more than enough for me."

"What was her response?" You ask. "I mean you killed her husband."

"She smiled." Renshu says simply. "She was proud of me. My father was nothing more than a tool for the organization's goal and in her eyes he had become worthless. What good is a man that could not best their own child? In some kind of twist of maturity, I was dissatisfied with his death. Revenge was unfufilling and I knew it. Plauged by the voices of the spirits and my own frustrations over what I had been through, I turned to alcohol. It numbed me. Helped my ignore the voices. I was useless to the organization and threw violent tantrums. It was my unique upbrining that allowed me to grow the Rose and thus my life was spared. I traded the creation of the poison for more drink and that was my lot in life." They say quietly.

"That's not who you are now though." You say. "That's not what you will be. We'll change that. You already have a good start. You're sober and you want to change. But I didn't want to bring up bad memories." You say. "What about when you started wandering as a Shaman? Surely that was better than how you grew up?" Renshu nods.

"Oh yes." He agrees lightening up. "So much better. You once mentioned that it has been 20 years since you've slept in an actual bed? Would you believe that I spent nearly as long without seeing fireworks?" You raise an eyebrow.

"No way. I was in prison. It makes sense that I didn't have a proper bed. It starts to be a bit more unbelievable after I escaped but to not see fireworks? They're a staple of Chinese celebrations. Even when you were out...working...surely you would have seen some?"

"No. Somehow fate conspired against me and it was not until the fall of our order that I was able to see them for the first time." He admits. "That and tasting dumplings."

"Ok. Now I know you're messing with me." You say. Renshu breaks his serene character and grins.

"They are rather unappealing." He says. "Quite shriveled and emaciated looking. It took me a while to force myself try one. Still I prefer stuffed buns over dumplings. I'm not sure what my younger sibling sees in them."

"They'll eat anything I think. I don't think I've seen them turn down anything." You admit. "Don't tell me their wiser older brother is a picky eater."

"I have my tastes." Renshu says smiling. "Perhaps they are not as...robust as yours. If I were to indulge my ego a bit, I would say it's refined." They say and you think they might be j joking.

"What about noodles?" You ask. "Do you like those?"

"They are alright." He admits. "Though they are a bit too wet for my taste or rather I do not enjoy slurping them. Too messy."

"Now that I can agree with." You say nodding in agreement. "They are quite popular in the Valley of Peace. I could never really get into them. I suppose they are ok."

As if on queue, you hear Ming call out from under you, "Guys! Come down here! We're gonna get breakfast and if you don't tell me what you want, you'll go hungry!"

>What do you do?
>Go down and let Ming know what you want for breakfast. You can start planning what to do.
>Invite Ming on the roof. It is kind of nice here and you can continue talking with everyone.
>Let Ming know what you want for breakfast but stay on the roof to continue talking to Renshu. Tell her you'll be down in a bit once the food arrives.
>Write in.

>>4540592
>>4540600
Asking the real questions right here. Too bad I missed the vote. Sorry my guy.

>>4540608
>Let Ming know what you want for breakfast but stay on the roof to continue talking to Renshu. Tell her you'll be down in a bit once the food arrives.
>Talk to him about the shared theme in your stories - revenge.
What is it that compels men so strongly to take revenge? It can't be called a primal instinct, because only more intelligent creatures seek vengeance - you would never see a basic fish yearn for it. At the same time, it's something that does feel like it comes naturally, and it's overwhelmingly strong. Even the most logical minds have succumbed to the desire for revenge time and time again. In fact, it takes a lot of willpower to actively prevent yourself from taking it, especially when the means to do so are right in front of you.
If I were a gypsie, I'd probably say that 'Revenge' is the inverted form of 'Justice', twisted and malign but sharing the same basic intent of righting a wrong.

>>4540655
Support

>>4540612
there's always next time

>>4540655
>>4540660
Talking about revenge and breakfast. Writing.

You lean over the edge and look down at a very confused Ming. "What are you guys doing up there?" She asks. "You're going to get in trouble."

"I just needed to think." You say. "And then Renshu came to talk. We kind of lost track of time. Can I get some porridge?" You ask and look at Renshu. He moves to lean over as well.

"I would like some tea and dim sum please." He says politely. Ming frowns at you disapprovingly.

"We'll come down once the food arrives." You assure her. She sighs and nods.

"Alright but if Xin eats your things, it's not my fault." She says.

"I will not!" Xin shouts out from within the room. "Now close the window. I wanna get changed." You hear the window close beneath you and the two of you return to your spots. You lay on your back once more to watch the skies.

"It seems both of us have had our own experience with revenge though more and more do my own reasons seem petty and thus my crimes all the more terrible." You say. "What is it that compels men so strongly to take revenge? It can't be called a primal instinct, because only more intelligent creatures seek vengence. You would never see a basic fish yearn for it. At the same time, it's something that does feel like it comes naturally, and it's overwhelmingly strong. Even the most logical minds have succumbed to the desire for revenge time and time again. In fact, it takes a lot of will power to actively prevent yourself from taking it, especially when the means to do so are right infront of you. I'd would say that 'Revenge; is the inverted form of 'Justice', twisted and malign but sharing the same basic intent of righting a wrong." Renshu crosses his legs and leans against a raised portion of the roof.

"I would not say that revenge is a corrupted version of justice." He says. "Though many would say they took revenge to right wrongs against them, it is merely an excuse they use to justify their crimes. To absolve themselves of their guilt. The true intent of revenge is to make other hurt. To make them feel the pain inflicted upon you. You yourself made me see that. After all there have been many stories of people taking revenge on others who did not have anything to do with the original crime. They were merely within reach. Though you are right. It does seem like revenge is simpler option, the easiest path. It may not be a primal instinct but I think it has roots in it. When one feels they are in danger, they lash out in hopes of ensuring their survival. When one takes revenge they lash out as well, in hopes of inflicting pain so that whatever is hurting them goes away. They lash out to show themselves that they exsist and are worth keeping alive. They inflict pain because they want to prove that they matter. It is not surival in the litteral sense but survival in the spiritual one. I feel it requires great will to stop oneself from taking revenge because you are fighting your instincts to survive. In the end, revenge is a hollow notion because the mind realizes that it was not necessary for it's survival and must now live with the guilt of wasted effort...or perhaps I believe this to assuage my guilty conscience."

"But did you not take revenge because your father wronged you? Because he left you to fend for yourself? You wanted to right that crime." You point out.

"Perhaps that was part of it." Renshu admits. "But from my recollection I simply wanted to make him hurt at the time. To feel the pain I felt. What he did to me did not matter beyond the fact that he made me hurt and I wanted to make him feel the same. Perhaps you wished to right a wrong when you rampaged?" He asks.

You think. "I don't know." You admit. "All I remember is rage and anger. I do know that when I escaped, I wanted to get my revenge on my imprisonment. All I could think was getting my hands on the Dragon Scroll to prove that they were wrong. That if they had simply let me have it in the first place none of this would have had to happen. It was all to show them I truly did deserve to become The Dragon Warrior. They had wronged me and I wanted them to admit it. Though my time in prison was not pleasant I simply wanted my point of view to previal. Inflicting pain on them was not my goal but rather a means to an end."

"Revenge is a complex emotion." Renshu says. "It seems that it is a multifaceted beast. You wished to right an injustice done to you and I simply wished to inflict pain and someone who hurt me."

>What do you say?
>Ask Renshu about his views on Justice. What does he think it is? If he wants to do good. What does he define as just?
>Talk to Renshu about something less serious. Not everything needs to be a deep philosphical conversation though you feel like if you do want one, he is the man to go to. What do you want to ask him about?
>Ask him about your current goals. About the raiders or finding the Sacred Library.
>Write in.

>>4540740
>Ask Renshu about his views on Justice. What does he think it is? If he wants to do good. What does he define as just?

>>4540740
>Ask about his views on justice.

>>4540867
>>4540867
What is justice? Writing.

"Then what about justice?" You ask. "What is Justice to you?"

Renshu thinks. "I do not know." He says. "I am afraid I'm the wrong person to ask even for my own sake. I simply do what feels right and even then, we know that is wrong. For now I follow your example. Regarding what is justice, I think that is what I must find out if I want to become a different person."

"But surely you have to have some opinion on it?" You press. "You know what is right and wrong. So that means you have some notion of it."

"I do...but I am a sociopath my friend." Renshu says. "It is how me and my sibling were raised. We have no qualms over killing, stealing or torture. We know of right or wrong simply because it is required for us to blend into society and function. We choose to follow them because we do not wish to hurt you or Ming. It is simply because I enjoy your company that I will not do something that would upset or bring harm to you." You shake your head.

"No. I don't believe that." You say. "If that were true, you wouldn't want to change. If that was true Xin wouldn't have wanted to stop killing or they wouldn't feel pain over their past actions. What about treating other people? Or helping them with their emotional troubles like you did at the temple? You didn't know us back then."

Renshu thinks. "I don't know." He admits. "Do we do these things because it is what you expect of us? Or do we do them because we know it makes you happy? Do I want to change because it's something Xin Lan or you would like? Do they feel the way they do because it is something that would make you and Ming happy? I hope that it is none of these things and that we truly do wish to change. Perhaps if we continue to better ourselves under this light, then our hopes will become reality. We won't be doing these things because we hope that we can be good people but because we know that we are."

"Isn't the first step admitting you have a problem?" You point out. "You and Xin admit that you have problems are are working to fix them. I don't think it matters what the reason was that you went down this road, if you did it simply to keep something you enjoy or if you truly wish to change. All that matters is you continue down that path and strife to become what you want to be. A good person. People and their reasonings can change and I think you can change yours too. You can be a person who wants to change because they know what they do is wrong and from there you can become a person who does good because it is the right thing to do."

Renshu smiles. "Yes I think I would like that. Frankly, if your life was not on the line I would simply be content to follow your example if it meant we could continue to be friends. I would not care if it was right or wrong. I owe you my life." He stands. "But that is not an option we have been given...or rather perhaps we do. Our deal with The Great Judge was to show him that my deeds reflect that of a good person as shown by the dimness of the hall not that I myself am a good man. Simply following your example and continuing to do good deeds should suffice. However, that is not a risk I am willing to take and to save you I must truly change. In the end when we succeed, things will be for the better."

>What do you say?
>Tell Renshu that you have faith in him. He will be a better person regardless of his original intentions.
>Ask Renshu something else. (What do you ask him).
>Tell your friend that it would be best that he figure out his definition of Justice first. If he has a set of morals to stick to, it will help guide him to his goal.
>Write in.

>>4541194
>I have faith in you Renshu.

I feel like it can help to outline our thoughts of justice so he can understand, so let me spitball.
1. Everyone gets one chance if they earnestly wish to change. That's all we got and it's all we deserved.
2. Justice is in preventing harm to others and fixing damage done to them.
3. The golden rule, is lead by example and the world will follow.

Maybe that would help Renshu understand.

>>4541204
Anyone think this is against how TP has been characterised?

>>4541204
Going with this then. Writing.

"I have faith in you Renshu." You say. "Sometimes, that's all you need to make it. Someone to believe in you." You think for a moment. "Perhaps if you have a set of moral codes that you can follow it might help guide you better?" You suggest. Renshu tilts his head.

"Perhaps but is follow the codes and laws we have not enough?" He asks.

"It is but I think if it's something your personalize or at least think of it in your own way, it might help you internalize it." You reply.

"Then what are yours?" Renshu asks. You go quiet for a moment. You hadn't really thought about it.

"Well...I guess if I had to put it into words I'd say that everyone gets a chance if they truly wish to change. Some might try to use that against us but if we don't take the chance then we're denying them and us the possiblity that it might have come true. Maybe the best way to defeat those in your path is to convert them to your cause. Remember that mercy is something we give. It doesn't need to be earned or won. We give it because we want to stop the cycle of violence and evil. Even if it hurts, even if it's hard, we should strive to help people become better people. Justice is in preventing harm to others and fixing wrongs done to them. We're a powerful group. I don't think there are many people who can even pose a challenge to us. So because of that, I feel like we should set an example to follow. Often times, people do not stand up for themselves because they feel powerless. I feel like we can give them strength and hope to do the right thing, even if it is in smaller ways."

Renshu thinks. "Then what about the woman leading the raids?" He asks. "Will you allow her to join us? Would you offer her a chance after all she's done? She's murdered countless people. Burned down entire towns. She's not a mad gang member with too much power in his hands. Everything she did was calculated and on purpose. Those deaths weren't simply because she lost her temper. She planned them. All for the scrolls. Is she worthy of saving? If she wanted to would you allow her to join our group?"

>What do you say?
>Say that you would. She may have caused great harm but if you could turn that strength to good then she can do just as much good.
>Say that you wouldn't allow her to join but you'd make sure she at least got a fair chance to be heard. Perhaps she had her own reasons as bad as they might be. Renshu was the same. If possible you'd find a way for her to redeem herself via the law. Just like Kai is doing.
>Say that you don't know. Whenever you make the offer, you never truly know if you'll allow someone to join only that you want them to be better.
>Say that you won't. She has caused great evil. You'll offer her mercy but she needs to face justice in the eyes of the law not at your hands.
>Write in.

>>4541296
>Truthfully, I am willing to give her a chance to redeem herself through the law. Her memory we fought preferred to die than surrender her belief so I don't expect her to wish to change her ways. But I will still offer even if she will refuse.

Everyone is worth saving but they have to be willing to change. If you are not, then there is nothing we can do for you other than hand you over to the law.

Where did everyone go?

>>4541354
That's what I'm wondering. Maybe they got bored of the quest? Really trying not to continue with singular votes but if that's what I gotta do.

>>4541357
Maybe ya should remind em in the general. Last thread might of died and forgot to check back again. It's a thing that happens.

>>4541362
Yeah I think it's been removed. Do people actually post their quests on QTG? Seems like something that would be frowned upon.

>>4541368
Nah, it's one of it's primary functions.

A "hey" I'm running again, or a full on advertisement for a quest, usually when it is just starting up or it's infrequent. Both are quite common.

>>4541372
Good to know. I'll do that but I think for today I'll leave the thread be. I'll take today to think a bit. I didn't like hitting that writer's block yesterday and I kind of want to have a bit of leeway in case it occurs again.

>>4541376
that's fair man. I'm just hoping the curse doesn't strike you dead, because fuck me the investment I've gotten into this thing is holding me hostage.
It's demanding 4 re-reads or I'm losing a finger.

>>4541383
I'm doing my best for that to not happen. I really want to see this through to a satisfying end. And umm...in a bit of hubris, I'm kind of brainstorming ideas of a quest after this. Not KFP related just something I do when i'm doing chores or other menial tasks. Not that this quest is anywhere near done though. I just like thinking up premises. Probably jinxed it

>>4541390
Shower thoughts are a thing.

Personally I think you've got a grasp of martial arts writing as well as how to handle supernatural elements in a rather mundane world. I think you could pull something good off after this is done if you apply the twin principle of quick action and intergration.

And yes, You did.

>>4541296
>>4541354
>>4541357

>>Truthfully, I am willing to give her a chance to redeem herself through the law. Her memory we fought preferred to die than surrender her belief so I don't expect her to wish to change her ways. But I will still offer even if she will refuse.


I'm alive and voting... just haven't had time to get on /qst/ due to IRL...

>>4541408
Thanks. I'm always trying to figure out how to write combat better. Make it more fast paced and stuff. Though one of my worries is that KFP is a semi established universe so I have something to fall back on if I need answers. Not that it doesn't come up with it's own slew of problems when you think about it (see carnivores in a world that doesn't have animals to hunt or like what are carts pulled by.) Granted, I think like 70% of the stuff in this game I kind of thought up but there's still the lingering doubt that if I try to make my own setting I don't have that safety net.

>>4541418
It's all good man. I understand IRL comes first.

>>4541418
in the same boat as this guy.

>>4541296
>Say that you don't know. Whenever you make the offer, you never truly know if you'll allow someone to join only that you want them to be better.

>>4541324
>>4541418
>>4541633
We'll give her a chance to redeem herself through the law. You don't always know if you'll allow someone to join only that you want them to be better. Writing.

"Truthfully, I am willing to give her a chance to redeem herself through the law. Her memory we fought prefered to die than surrender so I don't expect her to wish to change her ways. But I will offer even if she will refuse." You ponder for a moment. "I honestly, don't know. Whenever I offer someone a chance to change, it's not with the intent to allow them to join me only that I want them to be better. If I'm honest, you're first person I've asked to join. Xin and Ming were with me from the beginning and I asked them to join because of what we went through. It brought us closer and...I wanted to spend more time with them. I couldn't abandon my quest however, so I asked them to join me. But you know the tale already."

Renshu nods. "I see. Well then I will do my best to make sure your faith in me is not misplaced. Perhaps we may not allow more to join us but if we give everyone we can the chance to change then I do not think it matters. We are not attempting to form an army after all."

"I don't think we need to." You say with a small smile. "We're practically an army on our own."

"True enough." Renshu agrees. You hear the window open up once more and Xin Lan calls out.

"Hey! Breakfast is here. If you don't come down, it'll get cold...or I'll eat it." They say. You hear Ming giggle. Renshu stands.

"It seems like we must return to our friends. I enjoyed our time together." He says. "I hope that we may speak like this again sometime." You nod in agreement and the two of you slip back into the room through the window. The small room already felt stuffy and cozy from the heat rising from the food. Ming and Xin Lan's meals were alread taken out and laid on the floor.

"Close the window." Xin Lan says. "You'll let the chill in. I kind of like this warmth." You comply and sit down on a bed to grab your meal. "I found this bakery yesterday. They open pretty early and serve breakfast as a side buisness. Thought we could try it out." They say as they hand your meal to your open hand.

"This bread is so nice!" Ming says happily as she drinks her tea. Renshu sips his own tea and seems to relax even more than ussual.

"This tea is exquisite. Refreshing and sharp. It must have been freshly brewed as well." He says. "Clearly we must have found a diamond in the rough."

"We? You mean I found it. Also you're lying. That tea is super bitter and gross." Xin Lan say taking a drink. "I asked for a sip at the bakery and I had to buy some sweet bread to even be able to taste anything. That's how I knew you'd like it Stripes." Renshu simply smiles happily at that, much to Xin Lan's annoyance. You take your bowl of porridge and take a bite. Your friend's opinions on the quality hit the mark. The porridge was sweet but not enough to overpower the food. The grains used to make the meal were soft but not enough that they became a boring mush as many resteraunts and diners tend to make them due to mass production. As the warm meal gowns down, you feel the warmth spread throughout your body making you feel happy and relaxed, almost like being back at home.

You and your friends eat in semi silence, sometimes commenting on the food but mostly enjoying the quality of the meal and each other's company. Sadly, the food was no endless and as you scrap the bowl for the last bits of your meal Ming speaks up. "So I know we came here to work on the...mixture but..." She pauses.

"But what?" Xin Lan ask eyeing their brother with aprehension as he continues to drink the bitter drink.

"I'm slowing you guys down." She says firmly. "I can travel with you guys with no problem but if we're going to continue I need to be able to go faster. Especially if we'll be chasing down a group. So I want to ask that we stay here a bit longer so I can train some more." She continues looking at the three of you for an answer.

>What do you say?
>Tell Ming that you approve of her desire for self improvement but right now time is of the essence and you need to stop the raiders. Promise once that is handled, you will train her for as along as she wants.
>Ask Ming if she can handle training and working on the sedatives. Trying to handle two things at once can lead to injury on her part or mistakes on her work.
>Agree to train Ming on increasing her speed and agility. Xin Lan would be the best for that. He's the fastest out of all of you and closest to Ming's physique or you can train her though your speed is based on raw strength so Ming would have to build strength first and thus take longer though she'll be covering two areas this way. Strength and speed.
>Write in.

>>4542582
>Can you work on both at the same time?
Time is really of the essence here, but if she can do both at once I dont see any reason to deny her.

If not, I suggest we do piecemeal training as we go. Ie when we set up camp, Xin and Ming go and train while Renshu and we put up the tents and fires.

>>4542623
We'll as Ming if she can handle it. Writing.

"Can you handle training and working on your alchemy at the same time?" You ask. "You know that it's not light work you'll be doing."

Ming nods. "I know but if I'm going to get stronger, then I can't be taking the easy road. I'll...I'll need your guy's help of course. Renshu and Xin can help lighten the load on the alchemy portion. They have more pratical experience with poisons than me. I only have knowledge from notes and books. The only poisons I've made have been in small doses and meant as medicinal sedatives and pain killers. You can help me train." She says. You drain the last of your drink and think.

"I think it's best that I do something else." You say. "Xin is better suited to train you. They're the fastest of us and the two of you have a similar build. I could train you but my speed comes from my raw strength. So if I were to take you through my routine you'd be building both strength and speed. I'm not sure if it would be the best idea to make you focus on three different things. Time is of the essence and I'd like to take care of the raiders before we train some more but if you think you can handle both then I won't stop you."

Ming frowns and thinks about it. "I...I can do it. I left home because I was playing it too safe. I won't go back to doing that now." She looks at Xin Lan. "Would you train me?" She asks.

"Well...I can't give you everything I did growing up but I think I can figure out somethings that won't kill you." They say. Ming gives Xin Lan a small smirk but they simply take a drink and say, "I wasn't joking."

"Oh..."

"Well to start, we'll have to get your body used to bending." They say. "Flexibility is key." Xin Lan hops off of the bed and heads to the door. "You can spend today resting and working on alchemy. I'll come back once I have a few things gathered to help you train." They say and leaving. Ming gives you a nervous look.

"Suddenly, I'm not so sure about this." She admits.

"Do not worry." Renshu says reassuringly. "Xin Lan wouldn't do anything that would put you at risk. Remember they've lived their entire life based on calculating risks and benifits. They will know what you can handle and how much far to push you."

"How long will your work on the poison take?" You ask. "It might help give Xin and idea of how much time they're working with and if we don't have much, we can always put some sessions while we travel."

"Well, I was thinking a week should be enough time to work things out. Even with training I think that should be more than enough." She says. "But if you're not going to train me. What will you be doing?" She asks.

>What will you do for your week of down time?
>Help Ming train. You can't really do much considering Xin's training methods will be far different than yours, but you're kind of interested to see what kind of training an assassin did. If anything, you can at least make sure Ming is doing ok.
>Find work. You can't offer much help this time but you can at least find some work to keep the group fed.
>Spend it conversing with your friends. They won't be busy all the time. Spend time with them when they're taking a break.
>Write in.

>>4542736
>Find work for the day, spend the night/our spare time keeping an eye on the group's training

>>4542753
Gotta pay the bills somehow. Writing.

>>4542753

+1

"Looking for work most likely. We have some funds but I'd feel a lot better knowing we have some money coming in. Plus I prefer to keep busy rather than sit around and wait. I'm sure there's someone around here who needs work done. Maybe I can make delivery boy my official career." You chuckling.

"That's a good idea." Ming says. "Thank you." She stands up as well and dusts off her pants. "Well I guess we've spent enough time eating and napping. I better get to buying ingredients if I'm going to be spending today working on our plan. Renshu would you mind accompanying me?" She asks. Renshu gets to his feet and slips his hands into the opposite sleeve.

"Certainly not. Shall we head off?" He says politely.

"We'll meet up here for dinner?" Ming asks. You nod.

"Yeah sounds like a good idea. I'm sure Xin will find and meet us when they get hungry." You say as you get to your feet as well. "I'll let you know how the job hunt goes." The three of you make your way to the inn's lobby and go your seperate ways once you exit the building.

---

You look around the market place as you wander around. As is custom, there are several stalls trying to get your attention as you walk by. The small size of the town means there isn't much in the way of variety, that is until you reach the edge of the market and come across a trading caravan. Somewhat surprised, you venture over to take a look. It's a different caravan than the one you guarded and they have yet to set up their own wares to sell though you're curious if they bring any news. However, you stay your curiosity for now as you have to search for a job. Though perhaps you could work for the traders as an errand boy. They would probably want things delivered to the townsfolk or things brought to them. The less time they spent away from their wares, the more time they could spend selling. There was also the tavern or two in town. Perhaps they could use a bouncer though at that time you'd be working nights rather than days. There was also the guard station, perhaps they could have a job for you.

>Where do you wish to search for a part time job?
>Ask the trading caravan if they have any work for you.
>Head to a tavern and offer your services as a bouncer. With the traders here, they'll definitely have more patrons on their hands.
>Go to the guard station. You might find some work as a bounty hunter.
>Write in.

>>4542879
Hmm...bounty hunting does offer certain character propositions...while a bouncer makes for more steady work but the merchants have more money.

Let's stick it safe and say check with the merchants, it pays to be familiar with the town when the raiders attack.

>>4542888
And upon revisiting KFP2, Po is an idiot savant alright but I feel like his is undoubtedly less skilled than tigress and TL. Like he seems to be perpetually tasked whenever they meet fellow martial artists, while tigress is able to keep up and push back.
I think she has only ever been overwhelmed by TL and Kai in the films, so using her as a measuring stick....how the fuck can he keep winning?

>>4542890
Dramatic license I'm guessing. To be fair, TL's power level in the films fluctuates wildly (though that isn't to say it doesn't here but I do my best to keep it relatively stable) and Kai is like a several century old warrior by the time the 3rd film arrives right? I wouldn't know the in universe reason. I have an idea of his fighting style in this game but at the moment it's mostly set in the background as I haven't had a reason to flesh it out yet. But I do agree there has to be something more than just "He's the dragon warrior/protag and that's why he wins."

>>4542903
I dont get it, not one bit. The best I can hypothesis is that he has an innate knack for improvisation and adaptation, making protracted fights his speciality while making him less of a threat in the short term. But seriously po, come on man, Tigress can whip you into seven shades of pain, shoe us why she isnt the dragon warrior some time.

>>4542914
He does have that Jackie Chan kind of fighting style at times yes. So yeah I agree with you on that front. He is also way more durable than the five because of his fatness. Remember that not even TL could chi strike him (though i've thought up another layer as to why that didn't work in my rough draft). So the idea that he can improvise and tank hits certainly plays a big part ontop of is idiot savant status. At the start he's basically a damage sponge. Wears out his opponents and just takes hits while inprovising to keep them on their toes. Granted that still doesn't make sense on how he won considering how stupid durable TL and Kai should be but at least it would explain why he can get slapped around and out last Tigress. It's true that there's tons of times where others beat Po handedly but they're never shown to actually win. Most of the time it's shown as a gag and the cast move on leaving Po groan in pain but it's never shown he can't get up if he doesn't want to.

At least that's my nerding the fuck out over reasons.

>>4542879

seems legit

File: 170-kb-png-angry-pink-woj(...).png (436 KB, 840x859)

436 KB PNG

>>4542944
>>4542736

AAAAaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHH I MEANT TO POST BOUNTY HUNTER!!!

I'm clearly rarted.

>>4542946
>>4542944

also meant to say >inb4 police think we're sus

>>4542944
>>4542946
>>4542948
So uhh...you're voting bounty hunting?

>>4542951
Yes. Video related.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjD6vfG2MjM

>>4542959
Alright so we have a tie between going to the guard station or asking the merchants for work. Oh god I love that episode simply for the Dog the bounty hunter parody.

>>4542921
Here's my theory.
Pandas are fucking bullshit.
A single panda apparently has enough chi reserves to explode a chi-stealing ox general from overdose, despite that ox having stolen the chi of an ENTIRE ARMY'S WORTH OF KUNG FU MASTERS AND EVEN OOGWAY

Having that much innate Chi HAS to have passive benefits to it.

>>4543081
You mean the ending of the third movie? Wasn't he being being pumped full of Chi by an entire panda village, his dad, and tigress?

>>4543172
I could be misremembering.
Either way pandas are bullshit

>>4543266
Luo is correct in that they were giving him Ki as Kai was eating him, but you are also correct in that Pandas are BULLLLLLSHIT!

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>4543266
Shifu is a panda

Rolling on the votes.
1. Merchants
2.Guard station

You decide that the guard station would be your best bet. Perhaps you could also learn more information about your target. After all the destroyed towns weren't too far away from here. The guard station was as you expected it. A small building, barely bigger than a house, with a few barred windows and two guard standing at ease next to the door. As you approach they stand up just a bit straighter and try to sound authoritative...and failing. "What can we do for you citizen?" One of the guards, a porcupine in loose fitting armor, asks you.

"I'm here looking for work." You say calmly. "I don't suppose you have some kind of bounty board or errands for a traveler looking for a way to earn some coin?"

The second guard, a monkey in tight fitting armor, speaks up. "Our bounty board is kind of out of date." He admits, scratching his head. "You might want to talk to the guard captain if you're looking for work." The porcupine jabs his elbow into the monkey's side.

"The captain is busy! We can't be sending random stangers to him." He hisses, failing to be subtle.

"Who's your captain?" You ask, causing them both to jump.

"Uhh..." The monkey starts before clearing his throat to sound offical. "The, erm, captain is quiet busy with his duties at the moment citizen. As such we are too..." His voice trails off as he struggles to continue his bluff.

"To field all your questions and inquiries!" The porcupine concludes. "We are in charge for the next few days but don't worry we are more than capable of handling your safety." He says trying to salute and dropping his spear. You supress the urge to wince at the two and instead say,

"Right. Well as a concerned citizen, I would suggest you two switch armors. It seems like you're wearing each other's sizes." You point out. "As for questions...do you have any work? I kind of need to earn some money before I travel." The guards look at each other for a moment before gingerly removing their helmets and trading them.

"Well...it is starting to be trading season again...." The monkey starts off slowly. "and we could use an extra hand patroling and keeping an eye out. I suppose we could deputize you for the time being. We won't be able to offer you any weapons or armor but we can pay you for your time. I'm sure the captain wouldn't mind that."

"Yes! You can be a temporary guardsman and make sure things go smoothly! We will grant you an offical guard's seal for your tenure...just um give it back when you're done please." The porcupine says. "Sound like a good deal?"

>What do you say?
>Take the job. You're not sure if it'll pay much but steady income is better than running off to look for bandits.
>Ask to look at the bounty board. Out of date or no, if you can find one of the bounty targets it'll pay much better than guard work.
>Ask to speak to the captain. Maybe they have a better handle of the guard then these two.
>Write in.

>>4543644
>>Take the job. You're not sure if it'll pay much but steady income is better than running off to look for bandits.
>>Ask to look at the bounty board. Out of date or no, if you can find one of the bounty targets it'll pay much better than guard work.

Ask to look at the board anyways— could be some good prospective $$

>>4543644
>Accept and look at the bounty board as well

Idiots. Pair of idiots. Either the captain is dead, on trip or he's on vacation. So lets get the truth out of these chucklefucks before they cause us more trouble with misinformation
>Where is the captain?

>>4543649
>>4543660
Accepting this odd propsal and looking at the bounty board. Writing.

>>4543671
5 pounds say that they are mongol infiltrators.

"Sounds like a good deal to me." You say. "But I still want to see the bounty board." The two guards' shoulders slump.

"You sure?" The procupine asks and you nod. "Alright." The two lead you inside. The inside of the building was essencially a scaled down version of the jail house you slept in back in Zhengyi. Rather than splitting off the entrance lobby from the jails via a hallway, this small building had the jails built in behind the cleric's desk. The jails that you could see contained the kinds of people you expected, random people that had decided they could handle a drink more than they really could and were sobering up. The guard shows you to a very run down board with faded pictures. "Here you go." He says unenthusiastically.

You take a look through the bounties now yellowed and faded from the sun. Most of these are of unimpressive bandits who's payouts were not worth the time to track and judging from the age of the posters where probably long gone if not dead. However two fairly new bounty posters caught your eye. The first was a blank one that read,

Wanted:
Name Unknown
Dead or Alive

Description: A snow leopard, leader of a newly formed bandit clan that has been raiding the nearby towns. By imperial order, a small token sum of money is offered to those who can prove tangable evidence of this person's whereabouts or information of this individual and their group.

That didn't give you much. It was essencially the empire asking for information on the snow leopard. As for it being tangible, you didn't know if the information you got from the memory would suffice. You doubt that the captain here would rank high enough for your code phrase to work.

The second poster that caught your eye was of...you. You're somewhat surprised at seeing your wanted poster here but you realize you never did keep an eye out for them in Zhengyi and the other half of your time traveling in the wilds. You glance at it out of curiosity.

Wanted:
Tai Lung
Dead or Alive

Warning: Subject is extremely deadly. Do not approach under any cicumstances. Report sightings of this individual to your nearest guardsman immediately. The empire is not responsible for injury or death of those who choose to engage this individual. The hero who subdues and/or kills Tai Lung will be rewarded handsomely by empire and honors will be bestowed upon you and your family.

You frown. So you were too deadly to engage but heroes would be handsomely rewarded? You wonder who was paid to write this contradictory bounty notice and if they were fired. You feel a slight chill run down your body when you are glad you were on the side of good now and wonder what would have happened to anyone foolish enough to engage you if you were still the monster you once were. You're pulled from your thoughts when the porcupine speaks. "See? Not much to look at." He says. "These posters are years old and we only got the two newest ones."

"How come these are the only two new ones?" You ask. The porcupine shrugs.

"We're pretty far out from central China. Unless it's a very big criminal, or they think they're hiding here, most of the time it's not worth sending a bounty poster here. Suits me. I don't really want to leave the town to search for some maniac. You see that poster for Tai Lung? Guy apperantly murdered like 500 people after he escaped prison again. And that's after the 1000 guards he killed...or was it 2000? In any case, I bet he's the one behind the new raids. They say that the bodies of those he kills are ripped to shreds. Most of the villagers he murdered after escaping couldn't even be recognized and those are the lucky ones. The others I heard died slow painful deaths. I feel sorry for whoever birthed that monster." The guard says shuddering. He hands you a small badge. "Here's your deputy badge. You'll start today."

You resist the urge to glare at the guard and take your badge. As you're pinning it to your shirt you ask, "Where's the captain?"

"The captain is busy like I told you." He says. "Probably in his office looking over paper work. Had some bigwigs from the government come in about a week or so ago. Left him in a very foul mood. Been grumbling in his office since."

"I'd like to speak with him if I could." You say.

"No can do." The guard replies shaking his head. "Besides, you're a deputy. What do you need to see him for?"

"Well...it'd be good to know who I report to, right? Unless you want me to come to you when things start getting complicated." You explain. "Then again you're probably right. He's far to busy and you're in charge for the next few days to field my inquiries." You start to head out. "I'll let you know if I have any questions should I find a wanted man." You can just feel the porcupine's trepidation as you turn your back.

"Alright alright!" He says caving in. "I'll...I'll see if the captain can talk with you. Just...just give me a day or two. You've never seen him when he's angry so you wouldn't know."

>What do you say?
>Agree with his propsal. You'll be here for a few days anyways. Might as well make money while you wait.
>Say that you'd like to speak to him now. The sooner the better.
>Don't say anything and leave. Best to leave the guard stewing in anxiety for a bit before you ask again.
>Write in.

>>4543721
>>Agree with his propsal. You'll be here for a few days anyways. Might as well make money while you wait.

>>4543721
>Agree

It was only about...70 guards? 70 fits, but I wouldn't expect this guy to have up to date info.

>>4543742
It was a thousand guards in your prison.

>>4543744
Serious? Film misleads us so it seems. Can't have taken out more than a hundred in the first explosion and we certainly only took out about 20 in the ascent.

>>4543769
Yeah, I think in the film the Rhino captain says he has a thousand men guarding one prisoner, TL. The Anvil of Heaven seems to have been specifically made to guard Tai Lung. Then you wrecked them and they had a recruitment drive in the first city.
>>4543729
>>4543742
Getting to work. We'll see about the captain some other time. Writing.