The Man They Call Shan

[Edward]

Zhu-Lin looks closely at the way the men are dressed, trying to determine if the two are soldiers or bandits.

OOC: What is the surrounding terrain like - woods, fields, plains, etc?  Zhu-Lin strongly expects the men to be anti-social.  And how far away are they?  Have they noticed Zhu-Lin yet?  What time of day is it?

[Kwokinator]

The men dressed in simple shirts with bandanas on their heads.  It is obviously not soldier clothing.

The men continue to stand there, as if standing a post.  It seems that they have not noticed Zhu-Lin yet.

OOC: The area is plains, so there's nothing to hide behind.  It's about 3-4pm, and they're currently far enough that even if they looked directly at you, they would only be able to see a vague shape in the distance ^_^

[Edward]

Zhu-Lin stops walking and keeps an eye in the men, but he is still brooding.  Shan Lao had taught him to be swift as the wind, yet it seems he is anything but.

"Swift as the wind," he mutters.  "Bah!  Slow as the turtle is more like it.  When even a lowly thief, so unimportant that he has neither followers nor reputation can exceed me, who has been training my entire life.  No, he did more than merely exceed me, the battle was over and the thief fled before I even had time to stand."

"Perhaps I should go back and train for several years."  Zhu-Lin is beginning to wonder if he is totally inept at martial arts or if he studied under an inferior teacher or both.

"Not that there was anyone to study from.  The monk was goodhearted and pious, but was a goodhearted and pious fool.  It will take more than mere words to get groups like the Ming Sect to stop oppressing others.  And he and his companions clearly had no need of my meager skills."

"The other man wants to do something and I wanted to go with someone willing to do something, but he is clearly a brave fool.  He sought courage, not skill in his followers.  And mere numbers are not enough to compensate for the prowess of the Ming Sect, nor the armor and weapons of our rulers.  For that matter, by boldly announcing his intentions at the inn, he has almost certainly guaranteed the authorities will learn of his actions and seek him out."

"And perhaps he has endangered the whole village."  Zhu-Lin glances back over his shoulder, hoping to not see the signs of smoke.

If there is no smoke, Zhu-Lin strides forward until the men with the headbands say or do something.  He keeps a close eye in case thy resort to violence.

OOC: Are the headbands the same color, that could be the sign of a gang or cult?

[Kwokinator]

There is no smoke coming from the village, or at least nothing that Zhu-Lin can see.

The two men seems to notice Zhu-Lin now, and they walk to intentionally block Zhu-Lin's way, their swords outstretched to prevent Zhu-Lin from walking further.

"Money.  Now."

[Edward]

"You have swords, but I have a staff.  You have fine clothing, while mine is plain.  You have sandals, while I have none.  And you ask me for money?"

OOC: If they attack, Zhu-Lin will try to circle so only one can come at him at a time and strike low with the staff, trying to hit the legs.

[Kwokinator]

OOC:  This is a log of the fight, RP'ed on IRC, with slight editing to edit out the name tags and make it semi-coherent prose ^_^

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"You only look poor because you save all your money," the one on the right said. "We've seen your kind before."

"Now we can do it the easy way: give us money and you can walk," the man on the left said, brandishing his dao. "Or we can do it the hard way."

Zhu-Lin smiles.  "I see you are even more foolish than you look."

"So the hard way it is," the man on the left replied simply.  With a look at his partner, they simultaneously swiped their dao horizontally at you, attacking at the chest-level.

Wary of the attack, Zhu-Lin rolls backwards and to the left.  Coming to his feet, he swings his staff at the man on the left's legs.

The man being attacked simply sidestepped to the right.  As the staff passed safely over, the man that was previously on the right lunged forward with a soccer-style kick aimed at Zhu-Lin's head.

Zhu-Lin ducks, trying to avoid getting kicked in the head, while swinging upward to strike the man's kicking leg and flip him.

His kicking leg tripped, the man went off balance and fell unceremoniously on his back.  Not missing a beat, the other man swung his dao downwards with an overhead swing, looking to cut Zhu-Lin in half.

Zhu-Lin spins frantically to the side, trying to avoid the overhand swing.  He then continues the spinning motion and catches the man in the side with his staff.

The attacking man was hit in the side with the staff before he could recover from the missed swing, and he cried out in pain as the staff met his elbow.  Seeing his partner in distress, the other man, having already recovered, lunged towards Zhu Lin and swung his dao in an arc motion from low to high as hard as he could, hoping to disarm him.

Zhu-Lin dodges backwards, trying to avoid being disarmed, and circles some more.

The circling proves to be a bad idea, as he soon find himself surrounded on both sides as both men lunged forward at the same time to trap him in the middle during mid-circling.

Zhu-Lin jumps straight at the man on the right, deflecting his blade with the staff, while catching him in the body with his knee.

His attack is met with success, as the man reels back and doubles over in pain.  However, he also found himself flying through the air as the man behind him landed an elbow to his back before he could land the jump.

He spins in the air and lands on his feet, facing his opponents.

The man originally behind him lunged forward slightly and stopped to be just next to the other man, and then both men lunged at him simultaneously with overhead swings.

Zhu-Lin dodges back again to avoid the blows, and swings his staff across above the blades.  He lands the strike on the flat side of the blades as the blades were swung past chest-height, causing the blades to be swung further down than originally intended.  With pained squeals, the two men's eyes become white as they collapsed onto the ground, their chosen, rather sharp, weapons embedded into their groin.

[Edward]

Zhu-Lin winces as that last move was a much more than he intended.  And he doubts the bandits would be cheered by the idea that the court is usually in need of more eunuchs.

OOC: Based on his medical knowledge, does Zhu-Lin think they have any chance of survival?

[Kwokinator]

The men were obviously unresponsive.  They wouldn't be able to wake up even if they wanted to, which they obviously wouldn't want to, with blades embedded into the crotch.

OOC: If they stop bleeding, they'll be fine.  Having kids though, forget about it ^_^

[Edward]

Zhu-Lin grabs their headbands and attempts to uses them to stop the men's bleeding.

[Kwokinator]

The men still do not stir or respond, but the bleeding seemed to have slowed.

[Edward]

If it's needed to stop the bleeding, Zhu-Lin will cheerfully tear up the bandits' shirts.  He does glance up from time to time to see if anyone else approaches, particularly men with similar headbands.

[Kwokinator]

No men with similar headbands come by, however, a housewife-looking woman did come by, looked weirdly at Zhu-Lin holding the two men's crotch, and walked away, a hand over her mouth.

The bleeding starts to subside though.

[Edward]

OOC: Heh.

Zhu-Lin looks for somewhere to wash up.

[Kwokinator]

The area seems to be little more than badly maintained plains, so there is no source of water to be found.

However, a well could barely be visible off to the horizon, barely within range of Zhu-Lin's range of vision.

[Edward]

Zhu_Lin grabs the bandit's water bottles and rinses his hands off.

OOC: If they have any.