[Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby CarrieVS » Sun Sep 16, 2018 11:57 pm

Xufeng sighs. "Well there is something out of sorts. But Zaitian, be careful."

At least he's not gone snooping around on his own. He* does have a point; perhaps the two of them can find something out.





*Pronoun not name
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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby Scarik » Mon Sep 17, 2018 10:48 pm

Ladki96 wrote:"We would like to look at these caves, perhaps tomorrow. Will you lead us there?" Cuiying asks the boy.


"Oh, sure. I can gather wood that way tomorrow and point them out. They aren't very interesting for the most part, except for the one with the tunnel that goes up to the hills,"

He grins, "It gets icy in the winter and we sled through it."


Ladki96 wrote:Some hours after dinner, Zaitian gets up. "I feel like taking a walk, Xufeng. Come with?" ^^

After a few steps outside, he turns to his friend with a guilty smile. "Don't be mad at me, but we've all agreed something's fishy in this village. I just want to see what's up."


After the cooking fires are covered there are no lights but the moon and stars in the village. The only lanterns they have are in the elder's house and he rarely stays up past dark. So the place is deserted save for near midnight when people all over often wake up for an hour or so.
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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby Ladki96 » Fri Sep 21, 2018 7:00 am

Zaitian moves toward the front of the house before his friend pulls him back. "What exactly are you planning to do?"

"Go inside and ask the elder some questions, of course," he replies. Xufeng shakes his head.

"Let's not make fools of ourselves without reason. Here, we can find out what is going on better this way."

They crouch at the back and press their ears to the window, occasionally peering in when it feels like no one is watching.
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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby Scarik » Sun Sep 23, 2018 9:43 pm

The light appears to be a single lantern and it shows three figures around a small table in its steady glow.

On one side is the village elder. The other two sit side by side in a similar manner and are both dressed in dark clothing. Their faces are turned away but they seem to be wearing scarves with which they could hide their features, though they are not currently in use.

The one to stage left is considerably taller and broader across than the other who is closer in size to the elder.

The tall one and the elder are discussing some business arrangement. The other one never interjects.
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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby CarrieVS » Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:31 am

The two clerks cling to the branches of a nearby tree and watch this scene. "We need to get closer," Zaitian whispers, "I can't hear what they're saying."

"Then we won't be able to see anything," Xufeng reminds him. The windows are too high even for his friend.

"You will, if you sit on my shoulders."

"Zaitian, don't be a fool: you promised we'd be careful."

"So I'll be careful with you on my shoulders. I can lift you easily enough. You can warn me if any of them get up, and I'll put you down and we run away," Zaitian's retort is surprisingly reasonable, but rising slightly above a whisper. "You can see they're up to something, we need to find out."

"Shhhh! Alright, but we mustn't talk at all while we're by the house," Xufeng insists. "I'll tap you on the shoulder if we need to move. You tap me on the leg if you want me to get down."

The pair get down from the tree as quietly as they can manage - slightly irritatingly, Zaitian with his much longer reach is better at this than Xufeng - and creep up to the Elder's house. Xufeng beckons his friend to a spot a little way to the side of the lighted window, and Zaitian crouches to lift him onto his shoulders. There's a moment where they both struggle for balance but finally they straighten up, each with one hand braced on the wall, still in silence. Zaitian paces slowly over to the window until Xufeng gestures for him to stop.

He can just lean a couple of inches to peer around the edge of the window, and now they are close enough to hear the conversation inside.
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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby Scarik » Mon Sep 24, 2018 11:14 pm

Things are certainly easier to hear directly at the window. And Xufeng learns two things of interest right away.

The tall man is called 'Mr. Hui' by the elder, and the smaller one is actually a woman. Both have daggers at their waists with no indication either brought anything more deadly. Aside from the height and gender difference they look very similar as well.

Their business consists of two things. The more important one, which they are in the middle of discussing and will do so for another half hour is opium. Mr. Hui is a merchant in this matter and the villagers are selling him their secret crop. They are settling in on the schedule for the remainder of the year and setting the start date for next year.

"Purity and craftsmanship are of utmost concern to us, Elder," Mr. Hui says. "My father's guests are discerning individuals and they demand the finest."

The elder seems to take that as a warning and apologizes while shifting blame to the recent fighting.

The other matter they discuss is a man, well two men but the elder calls one 'Mr. Liang' and he is a brigand in the northern woods. The other doesn't get a name, merely a description, 'a scholar with a shrinking manner yet who always has a jian'.

The elder is a go between in this case as Mr. Liang would like Mr. Hui to arrange for this scholar to die.

With that revelation Xufeng sees the woman, for the briefest of seconds look up at the window without moving her head and very subtly brush Mr. Hui's thigh.
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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby CarrieVS » Mon Sep 24, 2018 11:41 pm

Xufeng is frozen for a moment, but only a moment. He ducks back out of immediate sight from within and taps Zaitian urgently on the shoulder in the agreed signal. It takes them precious heartbeats to disentangle themselves from their position, and then they flee. They keep close to the wall, below the window, until they reach the corner of the house, then simply run as fast as they dare in the darkness.
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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby Kivutar » Fri Sep 28, 2018 11:03 pm

Fuli hovers just inside the door of the boy's home. Cuiying talks politely with his parents, and Bitong tries not to pace and fails, looking out the door every few minutes.

The night is at its quietest when Fuli suddenly starts. She pushes the door open, Bitong and Cuiying crowding behind her instantly. The footsteps come a few moments later.

Their friends are there in seconds, Xufeng somehow keeping pace with his much longer-legged friend. Fuli doesn't think she has ever seen his eyes so wide open.

"What happened?"
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Last edited by Kivutar on Sat Sep 29, 2018 3:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes."

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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby CarrieVS » Fri Sep 28, 2018 11:44 pm

Xufeng doesn't answer immediately; it takes him a minute or so to catch his breath enough to speak.

"I didn't hear it all, they were just talking about opium I think. But then we had to run," Zaitian contributes.

Xufeng shakes his head. Still breathing hard, he explains who they were listening to, and recounts the last part of the conversation. He doesn't trouble to state the obvious conclusions as to the identities of the brigand named Liang and the scholar with the sword. "And then the woman saw me," he finishes. "I don't think they followed us but I'm not sure."
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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby Kivutar » Sat Sep 29, 2018 4:15 pm

"We should leave. Now!" says Bitong.

"Leave to where?" says Fuli. "It's dark, and we're strangers here."

"There's those caves the kid mentioned."

"And why would those be any safer than here?" points out Cuiying.

Everybody is quiet for a moment. Bitong looks out the door, straining to see if he can hear anything.

"Maybe we should find the army," says Fuli. "Warn Mao Xu. He probably doesn't have any idea."

"What about the doctor?" says Cuiying uncertainly. Bitong turns around at that. "We could be looking for him for weeks."

They all stare at each other.
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Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes."

Hosea 3:1
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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby Ladki96 » Sat Sep 29, 2018 4:51 pm

"One of us can go to warn Mr. Mao and the rest of us can proceed," Zaitian offers.
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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby CarrieVS » Sat Sep 29, 2018 8:17 pm

"I don't know if that would be safe," Xufeng says, slowly. "Perhaps we could send a letter to Master Du? Not from here, the Elder would surely find out and stop it, but maybe someone at the next village would take a letter. They don't need to know anything about why."
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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby Kivutar » Tue Oct 02, 2018 6:46 pm

"Anyone carrying a letter from the next village would come back through this one. If this Mr. Hui's sister or whoever she is saw you spying on them, they or the Elder might be suspicious and stop a messenger, or tell Liang Ju to keep watch," Cuiying says. "And the messenger wouldn't even know they might be in danger."

"At least we would be safe," Bitong objects.

"We mustn't do that," says Fuli. "That would be terrible. Besides, we might not be safe, if any of these bandits find out we are trying to stop them. And if the message is captured it will all be for nothing."

"We should just stay together and find the doctor as soon as we can, so we can hurry back," her brother agrees.

"We still don't know where he is," Bitong points out. "If they are lying to us," he glances briefly at Fuli, "then how can we find him quickly?"

"Let us go to the Elder and make him tell us the truth." Zaitian lays a hand on his sword as he speaks up.

Cuiying immediately forbids it. "How can you think of such a thing?"

"I didn't mean we actually hurt him. Just let him think we would."

"Zaitian, no," Xufeng insists. "You can't just do things like that. And especially not to someone who is in touch with a dangerous brigand, and has a murderer for a guest. Are we not in enough trouble?"

"You're the one who let himself be seen. And if we hadn't listened we wouldn't even know about the murderer."

"It doesn't matter," Cuiying interrupts their argument, "we're not going to do anything of the sort. Doctor Hua must be somewhere; we will just have to look. There's no point going back the way we came, or where they tried to send us, so we can go west or east."

"West is where the caves are," Zaitian points out. "Let's go that way, and check them out."

"I don't know why you think that will help," says Bitong, "If anyone is hiding in there it's more likely to be Liang Ju than the doctor."

"We won't know whether there's anything to be learned there unless we look," Xufeng says, "unless any of us have any reason to think east is more likely than west?"

He looks around, and everyone shakes their heads. None of them have anything further to add when Cuiying concludes, "West it is then, in the morning. We should rest and leave as early as we can, but let's not all sleep at once, just in case. I'll watch first, then I'll wake you, Xufeng."

This is actually all Carrie's work, I'm posting so she doesn't double post!
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Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes."

Hosea 3:1
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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby CarrieVS » Tue Oct 02, 2018 6:50 pm

Kivutar wrote:This is actually all Carrie's work, I'm posting so she doesn't double post!


It's entirely an in-character version of the conversation we three actually had though.
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Re: [Fate RP] Romance of the Three Kingdoms: CE184

Postby Scarik » Sun Oct 07, 2018 8:15 pm

The night is tense, but uneventful.

Young Xi is happy to show them the way to the caves and his parents are happy for him to leave early that morning. Xi never really stops talking on the way. He always finds something to point out until he suddenly stops about halfway up the hill.

Its an entirely non-descript place that looks exactly like the rest of the wooded hill they've gone up so far.

"The trick is it all looks like a mossy rock until you stand right..." he moves a few chi and points down, "here."

And just as he said, with a slight shift they see the opening and can just make out a ladder set inside to help them climb down.
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