Casting: Tiger Team!
- Jian Wu (Two) (Christian) 11M; Smith and guy with huge sword
- Jiao Ting (Eight) (Chris D) 11M; Reckless grappler
- Liang Jing Min (Five) (Randy) 11M; Noble, on the outs with family
- Nongmin Chushi (Seven) (Rory) 11M; He talks to spirits, inquisitive and charming more than creepy, despite possibly being insane. Perhaps a wee bit too friendly to strangers.
- Shang Yi (One) (Calvin) 11M; Natural leader and archer.
- Zhiyu Zhige (Nine) (Laurie) 11F; Sorcerer specializing in healing.
- He Bohi (Eleven) 11M; Twin, grew up near the docks.
- He Donghai (Twelve) 11M;, Twin, powerful grappler
- Ko Lanfen (Four) 11F; Solid Order devotee.
- Laoshu (Three aka Mouse) 12F; Quiet and deadly with a knife.
- Meiyou Ren (Six) 11M; Also good with a blade, possibly any blade.
- Rang Baozhai (Ten) 14F; Our bookworm and nerd.
Blood for Teacher!
So our intrepid and scrappy band of bald headed 11 year olds heads back to the arena for some sparring. Everyone will participate in a unarmed duel, the sorcerer in a magic duel and the shaman in a shaman duel and the armed combat one is optional though advised.
At stake is not just our creches reputation but the quality of teachers who will pick among us. Oh and were fighting team Umber Snake, Lanfen's old team whom we traded Qing for.
First up are the two magical duels....
- Chushi sparred a shaman who tried to turn into an animal but Chushi pinched his nose breaking his concentration. Then they traded TK punches he went for Chushi's groin, Chushi started off with the face. Chushi fell down but remained conscious at 0 HP then knocked the other guy out with an extra effort judo throw.
- Zhige dodged a lightning bolt and cast an illusion of pits of hell and he screamed in terror and yielded.
First round goes to us 2 -0!
As both of us had the Green Seer for a teacher little was at stake here but it could reflect on our teacher so best we won. Also Chushi showed his toughness by fighting through his wounds and Zhige won on style points.
Next up was the armed combat round...
- Jian Wu took his guy out with 12 HP using a sparring stick, guy rolled 18 on his HT roll to stay conscious.
- Chushi went up to fight a guy (DX 18!) with cestus who took him out with two hits to the face in one round.
- Jing Min went up against a guy with bladed hands who was also fast, did retreating dodge to avoid then Giant Step to get some distance and crushed the guys windpipe.
- Yi shot three arrows into a bullseye, easily besting his opponent.
Score was 2 - 1, with Chushi losing.
Finally we have the Unarmed Combat!
- Ting slammed into his foe but he managed to stay on his feet and failed a return punch. Ting followed up with a clinch and knee strike to the groin, guy breaks free and steps back retreating dodge and Ting hit him with another slam then he backed up for a kick. Ting followed up with another clinch and knee strike Observers were overheard talking about how unorthodox his style was, but also remarking on its effectiveness.
- Yi traded blows with his foe, both dodging well. Then he did a Judo Parry followed by a Judo Throw which stunned him. Did enough damage to break the arm and knock him out.
- Chushi opponent leads with a flying jump kick which Chushi handles with a Judo parry followed by a throw. Guy was stunned and Chushi kicked him while he was down, the team saw him think about stepping back after the third round of kicking him to let him recover and shouted NO! so he kicked gum again while he was trying to get up and he he eventually fell unconscious.
- Jing Min did a judo throw and kicked his guy while he was down, breaking both arms.
- Jian Wu rushed his guy for a Wrestling grapple all out attack and walked his foe out of the ring.
- Zhige fought Qing who rushed for all out attack grapple but she dodged then did all out attack double grabbing his head and shoving it into her knee. She stunned and knocked him down the did an Arm Lock and paralyzed and arm then the next arm, followed by the leg. Judges had to call it as he refused to yield.
Score 6 - 0
All the NPC's won their fights as a Quick Contest of skills so no details on those.
Overall we did well, several of our NPC's out preformed us but everyone except Chushi won all their bouts. Zhige was very popular as she healed everyone and the medics standing by had nothing to do.
We were waiting for the end to see who would get offers and discussing how well we thought we did when we were summoned away.
Some Bad News, and Some err Lets Call it Good
We were ushered into Headmaster Jong Jong Shi's office and some strange guy was standing next to him, looking very unhappy. We were informed our teacher had died falling down the stares between fights. Yi or was it Jing Min? was the only one of us who looked unsurprised and not flat out incredulous (ie he actually had Acting skill and the brains to use it) while some us restrained ourselves or were in too much shock. Most of the group however exclaimed in disbelief and Master Shi said there would be an investigation. Zhige pointedly asked them if they had killed him (and people keep wondering why Chushi is the one still alive?) and threw the bones to confirm. In the meantime we were all to report to Master Whisper (Orders Inquisitor) for questioning and pack our stuff as we were being reassigned to Master Pai Mei (The unhappy old guy there) for instruction as we had overall showed much promise. Plus other creche teachers were busy after all. Individual instructors would be in touch with us later and we were dismissed.
Chushi quickly inquired if since Master Pai Mei lived in a private mountain retreat if he and Zhige would still be able to be taught by the Green Seer. We were informed it would be so.
Our Masters are Indeed, Idiots
We quickly left for our rooms and started discussion. No one believed Master Wo Er just fell and Chushi decided to go see if he could talk with his spirit. Everyone else came along to pay respects and provide cover. Master Wo Er was easily contacted and informed us that he didnt see who tripped him but that there was a mole in the Order and we had to make sure the Ebon Book of 1000 Nightmares did not fall into his hands. (You know where this is going...)
We questioned him as much as we could and were informed it was secured in the library where only two people had access to it. Also we told him we won the testing and he said he saw most of it and was proud of us, at least most of us. Shade from beyond the grave! He also told us he was sorry when told we had been reassigned to Pai Mei as he is particularly harsh and impatient with students, especially girls.
We headed back to our rooms to discuss options. Rang said she knew where the book was and we opted to go look for it. Mouse escorted her and Chushi offered to follow along. Getting a dirty look from her he mentioned he would go as a spirit so they agreed. Mouse was prepared to break in but Rang had a key since she worked there. Chushi propped himself into a corner and went into a trance to project his spirit. Rang quickly went to the main desk and pulled some keys from underneath the desk that gave access to where the book was locked up. They went and she quickly recognized the book was not there as she had just been cleaning the room the week before.
Hello, you call this secure?
Chushi spotted a dark aura and trail leading from the room and went to investigate. Unable to speak so the others could hear him. He followed the trail to the dungeons where Qing was talking with the captured bandit leader and he had the book under his arm and was fumbling with some lockpicks.
Suddenly a demon attacked and tried to possess him! He resisted (rolled a 5) and quickly fled, hearing the demon warning the others they had been discovered. He found his body and woke up to Mouse and Rang waiting on him. Warned them to head to the dungeons yelling and ringing every alarm we could along the way!
Meanwhile as the demon attacked Chushi the bones given to Zhige by the Moon Spirit jumped out of her pouch and started circling her head. One was trying to lead her into a specific direction. So they headed to the dungeons.
Apparently the stones were a better guide than Chushi's memory as a spirit and the main group arrived first. They found an unconscious and badly wounded guard that Zhige healed who told them what was going on and to get help. The bandit was free by this time and had the book. Yi shot an arrow at him but he plucked it out of the air and was creating a gate. The guard handed Zhige a stone and she passed it along to another to throw it, not trusting her aim. It shattered and the bandit vanished into the gate as it closed, except for the arm he had defended himself with. Qing was quickly beat up and paralyzed before the rest of the guards came along and Chushi and infiltration squad.
Master Shi exclaimed in an exasperated fashion how he had just left us and how could we get into so much trouble so quickly. Master Whisper had us all interrogated separately. Were alive so our stories were accepted, probably helped having the bandits arm and the healed guard handy.
We were released and sent back to our rooms to head out in the morning. Chushi and Zhige were not having it and told the others they were off to talk with the Green Seer, they decided to tag along in case of more trouble. She was waiting for us at the clearing, though expressed surprise Chushi was still alive and escorted us to her house for a snack and we discussed things. She gave Zhige and Chushi a green gate crystal and we were told she would see to it that Pai Mei was fair to the girls and allowed our training to continue. Also our training was to be sped up and we needed to be ready for a conjunction when the book would be used.
Aftermath
Regarding the fight, we all had saved Impulse Points and several of us used them to reroll failures during the duels, So things not quite as risky as it sounded or surprising we won. Chushi could have used two to avoid taking those two hits in his armed combat round, but it was obvious he was going to lose so saved his remaining three points for a closer contest.
Next time will be another three years later and we all have Trained by a Master and impressive combat skills. Chushi added Universal to Medium so he can now talk to the tree and understand what its saying! Christopher cried. Also increased his TK strength and can now project his spirit for an hour at a time, only taking a minute of meditation.
Most of us studied up on some Demon Lore, Green Seer offered to teach Zhige and Chushi and Chushi will teach the others with Zhiges help. Chushi has Teaching -14 and Hidden Lore (Demons) -14 by the end of the time skip. Rang likely already has some skill in it as well and probably can still access the library.
Chushi impressed some teachers after all (yay!) and learned Quarterstaff fighting from Hwa Ga Wen, the Orders best staff fighter. Not sure how that happened as Chushi didn't get to fight with his staff, being knocked out before he could move. Maybe it was his undeniable charm, his toughness in the first round, or perhaps the Green Seer put in a word for him. Seems everyone wants him to be good with a staff, probably a "shamans should use staves, like priests" kind of thing.
He also learned Pai Mei's Eagle Fist Chin Na style, improved his Cooking to -17, and learned to ride a horse.
