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<Narrator> ::Jade has spent the last four days easing herself into the rhythm and flow of the Kara-Turian community of the South Docks. Time moves differently here, and acquiring information-- or even finding out who to talk to-- has been a lesson in patience for anyone grown used to Marsember's hustle.:: <Narrator> ::Even with the urgent press of a looming Guildwar, some things simply cannot be hurried along, and she has found her time well-filled with skulking about, observing, and making discreet (and occasionally less-than-discreet) inquiries. She has searched in vain for any sign of the missing girls, or of the mysterious Wuxing Society and what their connection might be-- if any-- to the Marsember Shadowguild's latest headaches.:: <Narrator> ::The very lack of information is disturbing. Other than the few early leads gleaned from Ai Lo, Jade has heard nothing but a resounding and frightened silence on the matter of the secret society. Someone, it seems, is very good at keeping secrets. A few promising leads have panned out into literally dead ends-- in one case, the body of Jade's hoped-for informant was still warm and bleeding when she reached him.:: <Narrator> ::Although it feels like a long shot, the rumor mill has ground out the name of an ill-reputationed comfort parlor on the water's edge known as the Inn of Darkened Lanterns. It is said that some new faces have been seen among the smugglers that frequent the place.:: * Jade approaches the Inn of Darkened Lanterns dressed in mismatched armor and carrying a pair of maces in addition to normal adventuring gear. Her hair appears as if it hasn't been cared for anymore than necessary to keep it out of her face and she appears to have acquired a long scar running along the left side of her face from temple to jaw bone, to chin. * Jade approaches the Inn like a slow moving avalanche, scaring people out of her path with a mere glance. <Narrator> ::As she approaches the water's edge, Jade's ki senses pick up a number of watchers hidden along the dusty cart-path leading to the Inn. They inspect her most keenly, but allow her to pass by. A duck launches from the long grass by the road, heading out to the water, and Jade senses a few of the watchers detach from their posts and drift along after her, some fading from her perception as they do.:: * Jade walks up to the door and kicks it open before stomping inside the Inn, seemingly pleased with the commotion her entrance causes. <Narrator> ::A bouncer in the foyer puts his hand on the hilt of a curved sword nearly as massive as he is, but removes his hand again as a thin, somewhat smarmy-looking man bustles up:: Welcome to the Inn of Darkened Lanterns. ::he looks her up and down a touch hesitantly:: What is madam's desire? * Jade pulls out a coin purse and drops it in smarmy's hand, completely ignoring the bouncer, "I want the best of everything and I want it now." <Narrator> ::The host weighs the purse in his hand thoughtfully-- probably calculating to within a few coppers the ten gold within-- and makes it disappear, bowing low to his new favorite spendthrift:: As madam wishes, immediately! ::he claps his hands, and several men and women scurry out from curtained alcoves, bringing with them trays of food and sweets to offer up to her. The proprietor kowtows to her all the while. <Narrator> ::the proprietor kowtows a bit more:: Er... may I inquire as to madam's preference in companionship? * Jade grabs the nearest bottle of booze and downs half of it before answering. "Women of course. And they had better be young and pretty." As if to prove her point Jade grabs a rice ball from a nearby man, knocking him over as she moves past him and deeper into the Inn's common room. <Jade> ::A moment later the rice ball has disappeared whole into Jade's mouth:: <Wei Dong> Of course, whatever madam desires. ::he claps his hands again, making hurrying motions to his employees. Jade quickly becomes the nexus of a number of anxious satellite flunkies and three or four young, pretty girls who coo over her and offer to help her with her armor.:: * Jade lets the girls remove her armor but keeps ahold of her maces. She also alternates between admiring the girls and giving death glares to any men who start coming in her direction. <Narrator> ::a few of the other patrons in shady corners of the common room pause to look around at the newcomer, some making quiet remarks to their cohorts before returning to their muttered conversations. A bartender starts over her way with a hefty tray loaded with bottles, but does a rapid U-turn at Jade's glare, and hands the tray on to a petite waitress:: <Narrator> ::One of Jade's shadows drifts in, a small, unassuming man who looks like a local out for a bit of fun away from the missus:: <Narrator> ::he takes a seat in a side booth, with a good view of the doors and Jade's centrally-located table:: * Jade makes a mental note of his location, appearance, and ki as well as attempting to ascertain his possible fighting skill while running her hand over one of the girls in a manner which would get her kicked out in a more upscale establishment. <Narrator> ::Another man drifts in, a stubble-faced rogue with a patch over one eye and a bottle of something likely toxic in his fist. He grabs a passing girl by the waist with a laugh and pulls her down with him into a booth on the far side of the common room, his glance passing over Jade as he does so:: * Jade selects one of the bottles the waitress brought over and lets one of the girls drink from it, spilling nearly as much on the girl as gets in the girls mouth. Jade then takes a heavy pull from the bottle laughing loudly. <Narrator> ::Two of the girls go to work massaging Jade's back and scalp, one occasionally leaning over to whisper semi-lewd suggestions in Jade's ear:: * Jade laughs, responding to the girl's suggestions with completely lewd comments. <Narrator> ::As the girls giggle and blush, Jade notices another of her quiet shadows saunter in-- this time, through the kitchens, dressed as one of the female servers... although to the keen eye, the clothes she's wearing don't quite fit her properly. She picks up a tray and begins to collect empty glassware from some of the tables, moving in a circle around Jade's.:: * Jade continues to be loud and boisterous and generally behaving in a manner that would get her thrown out of most establishments. * Jade stuffs a dim-sum whole in her mouth, then guzzles down more booze. <Narrator> ::This establishment, on the other hand, has been paid well, and is willing to overlook a bit of loudness, especially as it provides a nice screen for other, more discreet, conversations. Eventually, as the empty bottles pile up and the food trays empty, the girls in attendance begin to make noises about how much more fun they could have in private. The faux-waitress has drifted over to Jade's table, collecting empties and refreshing a tray of food:: * Jade grabs the faux-waitress by the wrist and pulls her down. Jade's speech is slurred by alcohol, "I's rike youse. Lesh go to sha back wish sha oshers." Jade gives the faux-waitress a drunken and lecherous grin. * Lin Ang resists Jade's pull for a fleeting moment, her glance darting across the room to one of her shadowy cohorts, before giving in and falling into Jade's lap with a lazy grin. "Anything madam wishes today, she may have." * Jade tries standing, succeeding on the third attempt. Forgetting her maces and armor Jade pulls Lin Ang and the pair of girls who were giving her a massage earlier to their feet and lets them lead her into the back of the Inn. * The girls, old hands at their jobs, get their shoulders under Jade, supporting her easily without seeming to as they guide her back to the semi-private partitions in the back of the Inn. Lin Ang allows herself to be drawn along. After a minute, One-Eye slaps his wench's bottom and gets her to lead him to the back, as well, and the quiet local follows them.:: <Lin Ang> ::giggling softly:: You are very happy tonight, madam. May this one humbly ask what it is we celebrate? I should love to hear of your exploits! * Jade grins at Lin Ang while running her hands over Lin Ang in a very inappropriate manner, "Sha tree of yoush wilsh be my one shou... shou... thoushandsh wenshes." <Lin Ang> ::widening her eyes girlishly and giggling:: One thousand! Madam is a mighty warrior indeed. ::winks knowingly:: <Lin Ang> ::leadingly:: A job has gone very well for you, then? <Jade> Eshkorded caravansh from... Shembia. No onesh elsh wouldsh. <Lin Ang> ::stroking her hip and cooing:: Brave work indeed... lucky, lucky us, that one such as you, new-come to the South Docks, would come here for her sport! * Jade kisses Lin Ang drunkenly, then turns to one of the other girls, sliding a hand up the girls dress to her hip. "Yesh. Lucky yoush. Lucky me. Luckysh Everyonesh!" Jade laughs drunkenly. * Lin Ang gestures behind Jade's back, towards the door, as she is kissed. * Jade ignores the gesture as she continues her drunken endeavour with the three girls. * Lin Ang continues to assist in keeping Jade entertained, but somehow manages to leave the bulk of the work to the, er, professionals. She keeps Jade well-supplied with alcohol, and an eye on the door. * Jade insists on sharing the alcohol all around, especially with Lin Ang. * Lin Ang willingly shares the bottle, although more of the liquor spills down her chin than makes it into her mouth. What she does drink appears to be working, though, because she becomes as tipsy and convivial as the other girls. After perhaps another half-hour or so of teasing play-- who marks the time, at a time like this?-- Lin Ang glances towards the doorway again, her blurry gaze sharpening for a fraction of a second. * Ling Ang turns her attention back to Jade, giving the faintest of nods. She insinuates herself around one of the drunken, giggling professionals, giving the girl a subtle nudge with her hip so that she appears to tip over from drunkenness alone. The other girl is already snoring gently. * Ling Ang pounces on Jade with a sexy growl, pushing the seemingly drunk warrior woman back onto the pile of cushions and kissing her passionately. She breaks off to purr in her ear, "These others cannot satisfy you as *I* can. Dismiss them, and I promise, I will show you pleasures such as you have never even dreamed!" * Jade grins at Ling Ang, her eyes slightly out of focus. She tries snapping her fingers, but when that fails simply waves her hand at the remaining girl. "Goesh away." <Narrator> ::The girl pouts prettily and hiccups, looking cross-eyed. After several attempts, she manages to stagger free of the cushions, and rouses her sleeping co-worker enough to stagger out with her by leaning on each other.:: * Ling Ang waits for them to leave before giving Jade a slow, seductive smile, leaning forward to twine her fingers in Jade's hair and devour her mouth with incendiary kisses. Behind Jade's back, shadows gather in the curtained doorway. * Jade rolls Ling Ang over so that Ling Ang is mostly hidden from the doorway by Jade's body. At the same time she begins stroking the back of Ling Ang's neck. * Ling Ang giggles and squirms against Jade, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and giving in to the moment. Behind Jade, the door curtain wafts aside as if from a draft, and solid shadows slip silently into the room, creeping up on the two women noiselessly. Jade feels the icy concentration of an impending attack aimed at her exposed back. * Jade squeezes a pressure point on Ling Ang to render her unconscious, then launches herself across the floor, kicking the attacker most directly behind her in the knee. * Ling Ang succumbs with a soft sigh, going limp. The closest attacker-- the "quiet local" from the common room-- is caught completely by surprise, and goes down with a muffled crack and a strangled groan. The others-- One-Eye among them-- pause momentarily in consternation at seeing the drink-sodden lumbering bear of a woman they meant to capture turn against them so swiftly. * Jade pushes herself into the air with her arms and spins, her outstretched legs connecting with the heads of her two nearest assailants before finishing her flip and landing in a defensive stance. * One-Eye manages to duck as Jade starts to move, and she kicks two nondescript fellows in dark clothing in the head, sending them both sprawling, knocked out. One-Eye growls threateningly and pulls a wickedly serrated short sword, charging her with it. * Jade grabs One-Eye's wrist and belt, and flips him through the air before slamming him into the floor with a crash that shatters the floorboards. A quick jerk snaps One-Eye's wrist and drops his sword into Jade's hand. * One-Eye howls in pain as his face connects with the floor, and his wrist is shattered as completely as the boards beneath him. At the commotion, a few sleepy and/or alarmed voices call out, asking what's going on, making worried remarks. <Narrator> ::Four of Jade's assailants lie on the floor in various attitudes of pain-- at least one wears his neck at an angle not generally considered healthy among the living. Jade catches a glimpse of swift movement at the door, a glimmer of ki moving against her, and hears a small puff of sound before thick, acrid smoke billows up from just within the door, quickly filling the room with a noxious-smelling cloud.:: * Jade pulls One-Eye out of the hole in the floor and drops through, racing under the building in the direction she sensed her attacker moving in. <Narrator> ::From beneath the building, Jade almost feels more than hears the shudder of footsteps as the imposing house guard thunders towards what was ever-so-briefly her room. The growing commotion in the inn fades quickly behind her, though, as she speeds out towards the open moorland, where the footing suddenly becomes distinctly squishier. There is no one in sight, only a faint wind stirring the long grasses.:: * Jade extends her senses, trying to find a hint of her attacker. <Narrator> ::Jade gets the faintest flicker of warning from behind and slightly to her left before a pair of arrows come speeding towards her head and torso.:: * Jade rolls out of the way of the arrows, throwing the short sword towards the source of the arrows as she does so. <Wu Jia> ::a figure in flowing black-- difficult to see even when Jade is looking at him directly-- vaults clear of the grasses, landing one-footed on the marooned remnant of a dock piling, in the middle of a marshy waste that was once sea bottom. Carefully and deliberately, he sets his other foot down and bows to Jade.:: <Wu Jia> ::his voice barely louder than the soft wind:: There are many who would not have sensed my attack, and would lie dying in a pool of their own blood by now. I am most honored to battle with you this day. I am called Wu Jia. Forgive me for the necessity of taking your life. * Jade ignores her nudity and claps her hands together, bowing to Wu Jia, "I give you this one chance. Tell those you serve to leave this city tonight, or I will be forced to take their lives." * Wu Jia looks honestly sorrowful. "Regretfully, I cannot. We are many, and you are but one, endlessly resourceful though you are. We have heard many rumors about an old woman, a young maid, a fierce but crude warrior asking many unwanted questions about us. This cannot be permitted. If you wish to send a message to my kindred, you must do it in my blood. So speaks the Five Elements Clan." * Jade sighs, then charges Wu Jia, seeming to skate over the sodden ground. * Wu Jia stands on his lone pylon, waiting to receive her charge. * Jade ignores Wu Jia and instead delivers a flying kick to the dock pylon, shattering it a few feet above the ground, then throwing a handful of ki shuriken towards Wu Jia's two most probable escape paths. * Wu Jia's form flickers and seems to vanish. Jade next senses him over her head, where he has leapt upward and somersaulted forward, twisting in midair to land behind her, facing her back. "Why do you seek to destroy us? You are most skilled. If you joined us, there are many great secrets you might learn." * Jade turns to face Wu Jia, grinning, "If you knew the secrets I've learned, you would have no need to ask that question." * Wu Jia's eyes are sad, his ki fully contained and betraying no hint of aggression or movement. Their new positions leave Jade silhouetted against the water, and himself blending in easily with the darkened landscape behind him. With a flicker of movement, he sends a brace of knives speeding towards her. * Jade dives under the knives as part of a new charge against Wu Jia, a trail of ki caltrops silently falling to the sand and grass behind her. Jade launches another flying kick at Wu Jia, aiming to shatter his shin. Assuming that Wu Jia is going to blink away again, Jade throws a blazing ki shuriken in the direction she'd be most vulnerable to attack from. * Wu Jia vaults away again, flipping hand-over-hand through the long grass and dodging suddenly to one side to avoid putting a hand in the middle of her caltrops. * Jade snaps her fingers as Wu Jia touches down momentarily near the caltrops, causing her caltrops to explode. At the same time Jade melts into the shadows, doing her best to conceal her ki as the shuriken she threw bursts to life like a ki flare. * Wu Jia spins quickly, briefly silhouetted against the flare as a crouched shadow, low to the ground. He reaches inside his robe and throws something in Jade's direction-- a small handful of tightly-wound balls that explode into a spreading net. * Jade charges forward, a ki sword forming in her hand as she does so, but the net closes distance faster than she expected as she falls the ground with a flash of ki as the sword dissipates. * Jade struggles in the confines of the net, trying to free herself. * Wu Jia keeps wisely back from his thrashing opponent, unlimbering a compact bow from his shoulder, pulling a pair of arrows from a waist quiver, and firing them at the seemingly ensnared warrior. <Jade> ::As Wu Jia unlimbers the bow Jade pushes her hands at him, a tsunami of ki rushing towards him, carrying his net and arrows along with it.:: * Wu Jia falls back with a cry of surprise, the first loud noise he has made the entire fight. His ki falters. * Jade rolls to her feet and charges Wu Jia, leaping into the air half way to him. At the peak of her arc she throws a ki javelin at him attempting to pin his shoulder to the ground. * Wu Jia rolls to the side, just barely avoiding the javelin. There's a gentle ripping sound as the cloth on his shoulder separates. He continues his roll, one hand flashing up to fling a light rain of silvery needles at her head. His momentum carries him over a stumpy hillock and over the nodding grass on the other side, where he drops away abruptly with a faint cry of startlement. * Jade forms a ki shield to catch the needles as she returns to the earth. Dissipating the shield, Jade lets the needles fall to the ground as she charges after Wu Jia. Leaping over the area where he disappeared, Jade throws a ki net beneath her, hopefully catching Wu Jia. <Narrator> ::As Jade clears the little hillock and throws her net, she discovers that Wu Jia is, in fact, well-caught already. His momentum carried him onto what appeared to be a solid, clear patch of ground... but appearances can be greatly deceiving, and he finds himself sinking fast into a pit of quicksand-like swamp muck.:: * Jade turns and faces Wu Jia, "Tell me where I can find your superiors and I'll spare your life." * Wu Jia glares at her, and for the first time, she feels the flare of real anger from him. "If I betray my people, my life and my honor would be worth nothing." * Jade sighs, "Forgive me, but I had to ask." Jade forms a ki trident and stabs Wu Jia in the heart before pushing his body under. <Jade> ::Once Wu Jia is submerged Jade holds the trident there until she stops feeling any struggling at the end of the trident, then waits an additional two minutes just in case.:: * Wu Jia disappears under the muddy surface, which closes over his head again serenely as if he had never been. Within a few moments, the shudders on Jade's trident cease, and the faint ripples marring the "ground" fall still. * Jade dissipates her trident and spends a few moments refocusing her ki and scanning the area for other ki signatures. <Narrator> ::The rest of Jade's opponents appear to be either dead, fled, or still unconscious. The inn has lapsed back into quiet after the brief upheaval.:: * Jade heads back to the inn to interrogate her unconscious opponents. |
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