Dueling Fate

Close it here, not sure if there'll be an update this week, but early next at the latest

Home haunts you for the rest of the night.

Long after you and the crew head back downstairs and the revelry ends you still find yourself awake, swaying gently in the hammock. You can hear waves, gently brushing against the side of the ship. Sailors to your left and right fill the room with snoring, bottles strewn on the ground falling on their side with every rough push of the sea. All these sounds though, are far less effective at keeping you awake than your own thoughts.

The statue of the great leviathan flashes through your minds eye. If you close your eyes and extend your senses you can feel the thrum of power deep beneath the sea, enough to know that the place you rest has not always been the domain of man. It's a feeling you know all too well. The mountains of home had been marked by the areas you can hunt in, and those where the beasts would hunt you. You had grown up with that universal truth. And then you had come to the Golden Reeds and realized that truth was not just the truth of the mountains.

And you now realized that the mountains of home, that frozen paradise was just one of many paradises in this world.

Would your heart rest easy if you didn't find more? If you returned to that place called home after this, would you be satisfied?

Home haunts you for the rest of the night.

A restless sleep, that ends before you know it with Sun Feng shaking your shoulders as the crew begin to rouse themselves and partake of the mornings breakfast.

And then the ship is unmoored, and thoughts of home are forced to be allayed as you work the rope once again, blistered palms stinging with each knot.

The day is not kind. Black clouds loom overhead, waves rollick with fury, threatening to capsize you and the crew, the spray of the sea battering you to the deck. Your clothes are drenched in salt, sweat and the sea as you tear through the ocean.

You had not thought a ship capable of moving at this speed before. Until Adeba had taken a seat in the middle of the deck, her eyes now clouded in a shimmering blue as violent as the ocean thrashing around you.

Whether she has taken control of the sea or ship it doesn't really matter. All you can do is hang on for dear life as the boat spears through a wave, splits it in half and sails through. The crew baying for blood as you all chase an ever-elusive shadow in the water, fleeing for its life.

You race towards the front, leaning over the edge for a moment to see the serpentine motion of the beast, black scales emerging from the waves before they disappear back beneath the surface. You try to squint some more-

"Lind, back to work!" Sun Feng roars as he notices you abandoning your duties and you sprint into place picking the ropes up yet again.

You don't know how much the ship can take of the paces Adeba is putting it through. If it could speak, you're almost sure it would be groaning in pain as the wood creaks and a floorboard splinters, unable to take the violent impact of the waves any longer.

"Stay the course!" The Captain bellows to you all as he stands next to the helmsman, his gaze pointed straight ahead, cape billowing in the wind.

The next impact sends more than one of you crashing to the floor, but he stands firm, even as he's drenched from head to toe.

Out of the corner of your eye you spot one of the ropes untethered, flapping in the wind upon the next impact. You race across the floor of the ship, dancing past Sun Feng as he leans against the mast bellowing orders to the rest of the crew.

Further ahead, a wave bigger than any that you've seen yet looms over you.

"Latch on!" Sung Feng cries out and the men grab the nearest thing to them tethered to the ship. You grip the wooden post the rope is meant to be tied to with all your life, grunting in pain as the rocking of the ship drives the rope into your back as it whips around randomly.

If Adeba knows what is coming you are unaware as she remains seated in the middle of the deck.

The wave comes closer.

You hang on for dear life.

Some of the men roar as the ship begins to spear through the wave, the boat rising up as it battles with the world itself.

And then the ship stands still in the middle of the ocean.

The shimmering blue fades from Adeba's eyes. She purses her lips as she looks around for the obstacle in the path of her skills. The crew mutter in confusion as Captain Yang narrows his eyes at the sudden stop.

"Spears!" He bellows and the crew race beneath the ship.

You stay, unsure of what to do or where to go. Qian Xia stands on the opposite side of the ship also.

You turn towards the sea, the ship sitting atop a wave, as if the ocean has frozen and you standing atop its peak.

And then the wave crests, and the boat doesn't move.

The water gives way, and you see tentacles wrapped around the bottom of the ship as a pair of soulless black eyes stare back at you.

Man and beast hold each other's gaze for a moment before an unearthly wail pierces your ears. Its great yellow beak opens and a tongue, as massive as the tentacles that surround the ship shoots towards you seeking its prey.

A yelp escapes your throat as you throw yourself back onto the deck and the tongue shoots past, attaching itself to the mast above. The beast tugs on the wooden timber, expecting an easy meal.

What it doesn't expect, is the blur that races past you and the sound of something being sliced through precedes the fountain of blood and guts that douses you and the floor around. The same tongue, dangles from the mast, before limply crashing onto the deck with a deafening thud.

Captain Yang lands gracefully, his blade coated with ink and blood. He holds out a hand as he hauls you up.

Gone is the gruff but well-tempered man that barks at his own jokes, and roars occasional instructions at his men. His eyes are ablaze with fury as he stares down at the tongue of the kraken that rests upon his ship.

Something saw fit to attack his crew, his ship.

He won't rest until it dies.

"Downstairs Lind! We'll take care of this!" He tells you as he brushes you to the side.

The gurgled screams of the kraken as it bays in agony almost drown him out. A tentacle inches over the railing, something you only just see over his shoulder before it thrashes wildly along the deck, hoping to lay waste to its attacker and you just manage to dive out of the way. The tentacles tear the deck apart even further, leaving the rail in splinters as cannons drift overboard no longer tethered to the deck and hundreds of coins worth of equipment falls into the water. The captain glares at the tentacle before with a single slice he removes the appendage from the beast's body.

He turns to find you still standing there.

"That's an order Lind!"

You move to follow his command, while he bellows the same instructions at Qian Xia. The pair of you meet at the stairs without a word, the situation too dangerous for your squabbles.

Only for the pair of you to be stopped by the crew racing up the stairs. The same blonde woman from last night places a spear in your hand before she races back to find another while one of the men does the same for Qian Xia.

"Defend the ship!" Adeba roars as the cries of the kraken are followed by yet more tentacles lashing against the deck.

The crew cry out their affirmative as they race forward. Together they jab at the flailing tentacles, blue blood seeping onto the deck, the suckers of the tentacles shrinking as it recoils in pain. One of the men laughs as he goes about his business, jabbing away like a madman.

He doesn't see the tentacle that looms up behind him.

All you and Qian Xia can do is watch as it slams into him with all the fury and pain the beast is enduring. He crumples in two with a deafening crunch and he's already unconscious as his body goes flying into the sea.

He hasn't even landed in the water before you're flying in after him.

The ocean is warmer than the lake back home. Yet, the sensation is the same. An all-consuming desperation as you watch a man sink further down. Just like last time, you'll save him. The water burns your eyes, your vision blurry. The water deafens you to the world above, the raging battle on deck gone save for the cloud of blue blood that surrounds the wounded beast. The kraken does not see you enter the waves, blinded by its own injuries. Any of the crew who did are too busy fighting for their lives, and their ship.

You chase after him. Yet it feels like he falls faster than you can swim.

DC Check Strength + Athletics (Swimming) 6d10

6, 1, 3, 8, 9, 7 – Three Successes – Pass!

No, you will not fail.

You push yourself to swim faster than you ever have before, rocketing after him. You reach out desperately, your fingers scraping his shirt which floats in the water and you latch onto it, hauling him up towards you.

You don't know if he's already dead. You heard the impact before he was sent flying, your jaw dropped in muted horror. You just know that you'll bring him back.

As you turn back and begin to swim up towards the ship, a blinding light overtakes the surface. You shield your eyes from the blast, only opening them once the light fades and you see the kraken limply falling into the sea, tentacles spasming in it's final death throes. You are content to watch it sink, only for Captain Yang to dive into the sea grabbing one of it's few remaining appendages before he sees you. He looks at the man hauled across your shoulder and reaches down.

His hand wraps around yours and you feel yourself propelled through the water, Qi at your feet as you are vaulted out of the sea and come crashing onto the deck gasping for breath. The rest of the crew, beaten down but victorious stare at you as seawater goes down the wrong pipe and you turn over into a fit of hacking coughs. Adeba picks up the crew member beside you and hauls him downstairs to the surgeon.

You barely even notice the kraken crashing onto the deck as Captain Yang emerges from the sea, his clothes sodden, his beard dripping, but his pride intact.

He has defended his ship.

And the kraken is your prize.

You're currently limping your way home, back to the sect. Among the crew the spoils of the kraken are being shared, what will you take?

[] The Ink Sac of the squid has remarkable properties in hiding Qi, it's how it was able to mask itself before it attacked. [Qi Infused Item – Shadow Qi] (Qi Items can be used to create charms)

[] A Whale's Tooth was embedded in the squid's hide. It resonates with bestial fury. [Qi Infused Item – Beast Qi]

[] The beak of the kraken is almost indestructible; it could fetch a high price in the right market. (Item worth 5 Silver)

[] Squid is a staple of cuisine at the Golden Reeds, food cooked from the corpse is sure to be ripe with Qi which can only strengthen your cultivation. (Grade 2 Cuisine item)

And as you arrive at the sect, it'll be late in the afternoon. Who would you like to run into?

[] Write-In

Get started on it tonight, next vote will be the next plan.

The mood on the ship is sombre for the rest of the journey home. Limping back to shore, some of the crew spend their time carving the kraken piece by piece and sharing the profits. You spend your time below deck recovering, resting on the hammock and waiting for news. Your vigil stopped only once when you look up to see Sun Feng toss you your share of the spoils, a tentacle carved from the squid, concealed in a paper wrapper to maintain its freshness.

Even as you nod your head in thanks to Sun as he walks away, Spoils of battle are the last thing you are concerned with.

The man you had saved, or tried to, is still unconscious. Every so often you can hear a pained groan from the surgeons table, but the room is off-limits, guarded by a group of men and women who stand vigil for his life and spirit.

In case they need to placate his spirit before it threatens to tear the ship apart.

For as long as you were a child, unquiet spirits had been little more than rumours and hearsay. Until a year before you joined the sect, your father took you out of the village one night when an elder was drawing his final breath. Whatever Qi he had cycled in his past culminated into something which escaped his body with his final breath. All you remembered was screaming, as something entered the world of man, and then silence as that something was moved on by the men assembled there. You never saw how it happened.

Unquiet spirits, all filled with the wants and hopes of those who carried them. Filled with all the dreams they never achieved, the longing for that which they never had. Should you appease them then they moved on to the next life. Should you fail then their final act would be to bestow a curse upon those who held its visage.

You hope that the man survives, but there's nothing you can do but wait and there's nothing they can do either.

A strangled silence looms over you all, even as the sect begins to appear on the edge of the horizon, and you make port a few hours later.

Captain Yang looms over the pair of you and Qian Xia as you both stand on the plank that separates ship from shore.

"We'll be back in port in two weeks. You're both welcome to return." He tells you both. "For now, we'll be sailing out to sea, in case we're required to deal with the remnants of Bei Hong."

You bow deeply, Qian Xia follows suit as the pair of you thank him for his aid. He meets you both with a nod and dismisses you.

You set foot on firm shores for the first time in over a day and your legs almost stumble. Your body caught off guard, ready to fight the swaying of a ship that never comes. Qian Xia brushes past you without a word, seeking to put as much distance between the pair of you as she can. You watch her go, eyes narrowing as you bite the inside of your cheek. Once she's out of sight you wave over your shoulder at the Captain and his crew, a few faces peeking out past him before you head back into the sect, tentacle wrapped around your midsection.

"Lind." One of the guards greets you with a nod as he sees you leave the docks. "A few of members of the sect were worried."

You furrow your brow at that, you were sure you left a note with Shao Suyin before you left. Maybe the information just didn't spread? You nod and tell him you'll chase them down before out of the corner of your eye you spot the music player who saved your life.

Bai Ping stumbles as he moves, almost tripping over his own feet. His breath is laboured, and a sheen of sweat covers his brow. In his hands he carries a bundle of jars, while his instruments swings off his shoulder with every movement. His instrument, his lifeblood little more than a tertiary concern as it rattles against the stalls of the marketplace as he makes a straight line towards the towns exit.

He seems to be in a panic, and you have a debt to repay.

Bai Ping whirls around as you call his name.

"Lind," Bai Ping greets as you run over, though he keeps glancing in the direction of the sect exit. "Now is not a good time I'm afraid, was it something urgent?"

You take a closer look at the jars now that you're up close, a dark liquid swirling in them.

Blood.

"You seemed troubled," you tell him. "Do you need any help?"

The musician shakes his head rapidly as the question spills from your lips. Unkempt black hair swaying with each movement almost obscuring his face entirely.

"No," he tells you. "It's better that I be alone for what comes next."

You nod and turn to go back to Shao Suyin's home before his voice stops you.

"Lind, thanks for checking." He says, offering you a quick bow before he begins to sprint out of the sect, moving with speed you wouldn't have thought the frail looking disciple could move at.

Watching until he disappears out of sight you think of how many jars he'd had in his hands, at least seven in total. Far more than he'd need to trap something. Of course, you doubt that Bai Ping has ever hunted anything in his life, far more likely to earn a good meal through his songs than a bow and arrow.

Eventually, you stumble back into Shao Suyins home, where you had intended to go from the second you stepped off the ship. The woman greets you with a raised cup as she idly reads a scroll on the kitchen bench. Liu Zhiqiang nowhere to be found. You take a seat on the opposite side of her, tossing the tentacle of the squid into your shared icebox to deal with later. You spend the night in silence. Her reading her scroll in peace and quiet, you thinking of what comes next.

A/N: You are halfway through week two, to explain you have fifteen actions left to prove yourself to the sect bar narrative events.

Pick Three Actions to round out Week 2:

Sect/Training Actions

[] The seniors are still offering introductory lessons, the cultivator is always happy to take on new recruits. Go with him and explore the art of cycling Qi, and growing your spiritual capabilities. Now that you have chosen another style in place of the sect you are still welcome to come and cycle the ambient Qi, but you will receive no instruction.

-[] List what you will cycle into (Stage, Technique etc)

[] Jin Jiayi told you to come back whenever you wished for more lessons in the art of combat, go test yourself in the ring against your fellows. (Random Encounters, Train in the Valiant Champion Style)

[] There are always jobs in the town seek out employment and grow your skills… and your wallet. (Potentially develop skills, monetary reward, ???)

-[] Meet with the seamstress. Sewing requires diligence, patience and a steady hand, qualities you have in abundance.

-[] The butcher is looking for someone with a strong hand to cut spirit meat.

-[] The local crafter needs some small tasks done. Who knows what you might pick up?

-[] The innkeeper of the Dragon's Wing was happy with your impromptu efforts. Zhen is willing to let you work under him again.

[] The guards have a shooting range for Archery, work to develop your skills in preparation for future hunts.

[] You already have some skill in the art of cultivation, and you're recently found a Qi spot, go forth and cycle.

-[] Write in where and what you are cycling towards.

[] The Immortal Kitchens often have requests which they look for aspiring hunters and sect members to complete. You will go and examine their job board.

Social Actions

[] The last time you saw Bai Ping he looked in trouble, almost fleeing the grounds of the sect. Is everything alright with him? Maybe you should track him down, just to be sure.

[] Vijaya Paranthapa has been seen gathering mountaineering gear and eyeing one of the sect's mountains. If she is planning an expedition up one of the peaks, perhaps she would be willing to accept some company?

[] Lord Li Jiang, is always accompanied, although lately you can see that Qing Liao, the woman who suggested you introduce yourself too him has been shunned to the outskirts of his circle.

-[] Introduce yourself to Li Jiang,

-[] Qing Liao has recently taken to working for the local crafter, catch her after a shift.

[] Wu Chanying has perhaps taken on more than she can chew with her latest endeavour, seen with a cart the size of a small house and no one to lend her a hand. What is she doing?

[] You and Liu Zhiquaing live under the same roof but you have yet to properly make the acquaintance of your fellow initiate. Spending most of his time in the forests within the sect, perhaps you should join him for a day?

[] The Ghost has been seen around the sect and village, though most tend to keep a wide berth to him. Perhaps once you finish what you started, he might lend you his ear?

[] Surely there are others in the sect that you could make the acquaintance of, take a walk and see who you find. Or, who finds you. (???)

Personal Actions

[] A few nights ago you chased after something and were it not for Bai Ping it could well have ended your life. The sect has deemed it a matter below the concerns of the sect, but it could come back to wreak havoc on the town. Find it.

-[] Bai Ping did seem to have experience in this field, and no love of demons either. Maybe he'll be willing to lend a hand.

[] The markets are home to a great range of things from weapons, charms and from what you've heard even Qi techniques. Go and peruse the market to see what you can find.

[] Go and see what the sect has for you, explore to your hearts content (D100)

[] You are a hunter, above all else. Go and search for some quarry.

-[] Search the surrounding forests (D8) - Low chance of spirit aspected beasts,

-[] Search the Mudpots,

[] Back in the port city there is always work for skilled labourers and you often see some of your fellow initiates, leaving for the day to complete tasks, you could find work at the docks.

[] The Immortal Kitchens are home to meals of all manner. If you can afford them of course. (Immortal meals are worth 5 Silvers. This cost can be offset by bringing your own game.)

-[] You have the spoils of the Kraken to supply for your meal (Grade 2 Squid) – Cost 2 Silver Coins.

[] Write-In