Dueling Fate

[X] Reckless – Hit hard, forgo defence to deal additional damage, attacks are stronger, but you are likely to take damage in turn.

It's the beginning of a long day as you rise to your feet. The first fight in a long series of bouts ends better for you as you run into a fellow novice. As blows are exchanged Jin Jiayi watches, a serene smile on his face before he calls out one of your fellows and begin to work with them alone. You glance out of the corner of your eye to watch him leading someone through a series of movements. Practiced and refined, a far sight from the wild flailing and panicked kicks thrown by people with no idea of what they're meant to be doing.

You cycle through a few more partners, each being taken away and taught something new and different from the others before finally Jin Jiayi calls you over.

Expecting to be led through a system of moves you ready yourself, only to be asked a question instead.

"Have you ever heard of the Valiant Champion?"

Lore Check: Test: Insight 3 + Lore 0 (Knowledge: Legends 0): 5, 1, 2

"No, Senior." You tell him. "I never heard much that wasn't to do with the mountains, or beasts."

He nods at your answer. "In the south, near the border, there are fighting pits. They've been there for hundreds of years and they're likely to be there for hundreds more. Each day thousands go to watch, little arenas filled with slaves who do battle against man and beast alike. Most don't last a week, but that's alright for those who run it, for there's an almost endless supply. People caught fleeing the empire, criminals sold by the jails, those desperate and foolish enough to try and make a quick buck."

"The Valiant Champion was one such slave. Dragged in from a broken state to the east, not fleeing our empire, but running towards it. Captured and dragged in chains across the desert pass until he was thrown into the pits after weeks without food or water."

"And he survived?"

"He thrived. The depths of his cultivation were unknown at the time, but he was far more than your average fighter. His power only grew as his continuous victories won the hearts of the spectators and with their hearts came materials to ascend to even greater heights. By the time he retired, earning his freedom from the pits he was considered one of the strongest warriors in the known realm. To this day, he runs a ring of his own fighters who brave the pits in search of the honour and glory that their master attained."

"I'm telling you all of this." Jin Jiayi says as he grabs a hold of your arms and lifts them until they're hovering high, on either side of your face, your left in front of your right. "Because the Valiant Champion has trained those who seek his wisdom in the style that he used. That is the style I am going to teach you today."

You nod, keeping your hands raised, ignoring the strain in your elbow from the way your arms are held in front of you.

"The Valiant Champion made his name for his willingness to fight anything he came across. What drew the crowds though were his fights against his rival champions. Brutal and relentless, the Champion did not hold back, the crowd was there for blood and the Champion was willing to offer it in spades. Theirs or his."

He walks around your stance, assessing you, prodding your knee until you bend further down and find yourself far more balanced than before.

"The Champion's Style is about doing whatever it takes to seize the advantage. It acknowledges that pain is a consequence of battle. To win is to deal more pain than one takes. An exchange of blows in its purest form, built on strikes. From what I've seen today you can at least throw a punch, so I thought it best to stick to that."

Jin Jiayi holds out his hands. "Now throw a punch."

Roll – Training – The Valiant Champion

4d!10(6) – Jin Jiayi Assistance = +1 Die, -1 Threshold

Trainers and Wisdom – When developing skills, if Lind can seek the assistance of senior fellows or find a source of information that will help him in his adventures then those assets bring their own benefits in the form of additional dice or reduced thresholds depending on the level of quality brought to instruction.

Roll 4d10 (10 10 5 7) – 5 Successes

Roll 4d10 (8 2 8 4) – 2 Successes

Roll 4d10 (9 4 5 2) – 1 Success

Roll 4d10 (6 5 5 5) – 1 Success

Roll 4d10 (4 2 6 8) – 2 Successes

Total 11 Successes

The Valiant Champion Level 1 Reached! 11/10

The Valiant Champion Level 2 1/15

Lind Gains Unarmed +1, Unarmed Damage +1

Your body burns in ways you didn't know existed as you stumble back into Shao Suyin's home. You're not the first one there though as you find Liu Zhiqiang seated at the kitchen table, eating something that is distinctly not the same salty gruel that you'd been fed this morning. You nod at him as you help yourself to that same gruel once again, stewing in a cauldron over a soft fire.

"Good hunting?" Liu asks you.

You stare at the meal in his hands, no doubt earned by his own work, and you realise that this is the first time you've been around a hunter your own age.

Who knows what you could teach each other?

"Not today, I followed the martial senior for some pointers." You say in between bites. "Yourself?"

"The butcher said he was short on supplies, so I hunted a wild boar in the forest. Took longer carrying the beast back to town than it did to catch it!" He chuckles as he gestures to the meat on his place. "Didn't stop to ask questions when it saw a free meal, and I didn't ask questions when the butcher gave me some free cuts."



"How did you deal the last blow?"

He answers that by leaving his seat and running back up the stairs. You stare at the meal on his plate, the scent of herbs lightly dusting the meat. With a deep breath you can feel whispers of Qi tantalising you, enough to make your mouth water. You return to your gruel with a grimace, much less appetising than before when he returns carrying a spear. Runes line the handle in a language you've never seen. Black steel reflects the soft light of the flames underneath the cauldron as he extends it to you.

It's weighty, far heavier than any weapon you've wielded before. You realise that the shaft of the spear is also made of metal, unlike the spears you've seen your father use in the mountains.

"Paid a crafter in materials for over a year before I finally saved up enough for her to create this. The steel is charmed so that if it damages the foe and they escape I can follow their trail. That and a couple of other tricks that I'll keep to myself." He tells you, a grin on his face as he takes it back from you and with practiced ease does a few swings, making it seem light in comparison.

"You always carry that bow with you?" He asks, staring at it in the corner you'd placed it when you walked in.

You hand it over to him and he examines it with a keen eye.

"Never been one for bows myself but it's quite well crafted." He says as he runs his hands over it. "What do you do if you find something that takes more than a couple of arrows?"

You take it back from him, staring at the weapon in your hands. "I've never met anything that took more than a couple of arrows."

Insight Check 3d10 – 7, 9, 1 – 2 Successes

Liu Zhiqiang's eyes narrow at your statement. "Well," He says, "Hopefully that stays true then." And he pats you on the shoulder, grabs his meal from the table and heads upstairs to his room.

You're not sure why, but you know you said something wrong.

Shao Suyin returns home a while later, the two of you sharing a meal and recounting your day. She mentions going for hunting tomorrow and to be up at dawn if you wish to join her. The two of you talk for a while longer, you tell her a story of your home before you head to bed early.

You wake to the sound of screams and the smell of smoke.

Your lungs burn. Shouts of panic and pain echo through the night as you bolt out of bed. You dash for your knives, and your bow and arrow. You throw on a cloak and hurry downstairs.

Your host is nowhere to be seen, but you see her bow is off its hook. Liu Zhiquiang appears next to you, spear in hand. It's apparent from the expression on his face that he has no more idea what's going on than you do.

Wordlessly, you both travel out into the street, and into fire and chaos.

"Water!" You can hear a voice yell and you see a group of disciples wearing sect robes hurrying through the streets. They stop, turn towards the flames, their bodies moving in unison as a deluge pours down from the night sky, centring over a building until the roaring flames are reduced to embers. One of the seniors' sags as the rain comes to a stop, being held up by one of his fellows who shoves a pill into his hand before dragging him further down the road.

Liu runs past you towards the sounds of panic, concentrated further ahead.

Outside the building that has just been put out two of the inhabitants are on the ground. A fellow initiate retches, bile spilling out onto the street. You hold back a retch of your own as you race back into your home. You grab two cups, filling them with water before you return to the street, crouching as you hand them out. The initiate takes it from you. He takes a deep swig, before sputtering as a fit of coughing overtakes him.

A small part of you whispers that whatever it has happened, it is beyond you. You should stay put, and wait for the seniors to deal with this… attack?

But another part of you remembers pulling a man from the ice. You remember how it was for that as much as anything that you were brought here to the Golden Reeds.

You run towards the flames.

Buildings continue to burn, and people run through the streets. Sect disciples move with purpose, but the townsfolk and aspirants you see are panicking, unsure whether to run or stay put. Deeper in the town, you hear fighting – screams, shouting, and a strange, inhuman roaring. You can feel qi in the air, thick and strange.

Insight + Perception (Sight): 2, 2, 8, 9. 2 Successes!

In the shadows of the smouldering buildings, you see a shape move from the centre of the town. At first, you think it is a cat or a dog, but something about its gait is jerky, unnatural. You lose sight of it before you can tell more, but you feel bile rise in your throat at the sight.

The sounds of chaos fade as you fight off the shard of panic in your chest. You must choose a plan of action.

What is it?

[] You see townsfolk carrying buckets. You will help with the bucket brigade and fight the fires.

[] It looks like disciples from the sect are carrying wounded to a makeshift shelter, where people are applying bandages to burns. Go and offer your services.

[] There is a fight somewhere, and the town can likely use every strong arm it can muster. Find the battle and help.

[] Whatever that strange shape was, something about it concerned you. Go after it.