Synopsis: Turtle and Serendipity continue their visit to a teahouse famous for its martial artists, still in their attempt to track down the source of the ninja assasins sent to kill Rombulac.

Setting: Hundred Kingdoms

Characters: Gentle Turtle, Starlight Serendipity

Run By: Cynis Yueru

 

 Serendipity walks up the stairs to the second floor, and has abandoned all pretense of not being combative; her nine-section-staff trickles and trails around her, kept in constant, sinuous, dangerous motion.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "did you both see the final pose I made in the log?"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle did./

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity doesn't remember.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "The drunkard jumps out of the way of the table easily enough, but the splashing scalding tea is harder to evade. The hot liquid stikes his skin and he cries out sharply in pain, and glares at Serendipity. "Alright. If you're so insistant, then go on up ahead. I just hope your monk friend can protect you well enough up there.""

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity says, "Ah. What an ass. I am the pinnacle of unenlightened mortal martial arts. :P"

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "That you are. xD"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle is a weak little man.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "But enlightened martial artists will likely kick your ass. xD"

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity says, "No doubt. Anyway, it's someone's pose, someone not me."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle is posing.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru is also posing.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle will let Yueru go first, then. He'll just pose on the 2nd floor.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "I'm only writing description. you can pose."

 

 

         Smiling towards Serendipity - she just flung scalding tea at someone, don't make any sudden movements in front of her Turtle - Gentle Turtle briefly performs a series of lightning-swift kata, his movements taking on an airy grace. Better safe than sorry, and by assuming a martial arts form he's no doubt signalled to the world his intent to fight. "O-on we g-g-go," he says, ascending.

 

The second floor the tavern is very much like the first floor in terms of decoration, furniture, and inhabitants. It looks so much like the first floor, in fact, that one would think that they were still on the ground floor, only that they've arrived at a time of day when the teahouse is less populated. The second floor bears only a dozen or so people, when the first one had easily three or four times that number. Although the floor as a whole seems to be more quiet, individually these people look no different from the ones below. There are even two old men playing some kind of board game in a corner.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle activates Air Dragon Form.

 

Serendipity murmurs at Turtle, "I think I'll leave these fellows' board game alone." Then she flicks her braid over her shoulder, again, and grabs an empty teacup off a table, filling it with the tea from her teapot. Somehow, throughout her little adventures, she has managed not to spill a drop. At last, she can enjoy some refreshing jasmine tea... she even sits down to do so, watching the board game with interest, letting Turtle handle this.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle wants to peer around and see if he can spy any Breeding markings to find a DB.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "/a/ db?"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Or multiple ones."

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity says, "Good idea."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "He wants to see if this floor is primarily mortal or Exalted."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "If it's mortal, he's just going to waltz towards the staircase."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru thinks.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Well, make a investigation or awareness roll. xD"

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Add half your MA as a bonus, if you want to see how much they can kick ass"

 

(Judge) Gentle Turtle rolls Perception  + Awareness + 3  + Essence: [ -1- -1- -1- 3 4 5 7 8 8 9 ]

         Resulting in 4 successes.

 

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "It's always 4!"

 

(Judge) Serendipity rolls Perception  + Awareness + 3: [ -1- 3 5 5 6 6 7 8 <10> ]

         Resulting in 4 successes.

 

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Ser and Turtle, you realize that the drunkard on the first floor practiced a variant of Orgiastic Fugitive Style. So he at the very least could manipulate essence."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "By that assumption, the people on this floor is probably beyond baseline mortals."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "You don't immediately spot any obvious dragonblooded markings, but they could have crap breeding"

 

 

         Gentle Turtle cannot spy any obvious dragon-blooded, but that doesn't mean much; his own aspect markings are easy to miss. If the first floor was comprised of essence-channeling mortals, it reasons to follow that the second are either mortal masters or novitiate dragon-blooded artists. The assassins were clearly dragon-blooded; this is the floor where his search will begin in earnest. He moves towards the middle of the room, brazenly displaying the copious amounts of jade in the room. "I am G-G-Gentle Turtle. I ch-ch-challenge the s-strongest here to demonstrate the superiority of his s-s-style. The l-l-loser will answer any one q-question the victor has." This is quite possibly one of the most polite, mild-mannered challenges ever given.

 

Serendipity sits in her chair, sips her tea. Interjects, "Answer it honestly, Turtle. Fine print is important." Then it's back to the tea. Ahhhh.

 

"I accept!" calls out a white-robed man with spectacles, sitting in a corner table, enjoying a plate of dumplings. His reply was a bit muffled by the fact that he was still chewing at the time, but it was clear enough to be understood. "Hey! I want to fight him!" yells out a shirtless man with a yellow bandana seated at the same table. "Too late. I called it first." The spectacled man replied, wiping his mouth on a napkin and standing to bow to Gentle Turtle.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "roll your join battle."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Quick question: there are windows around, yes?"

 

(OOC) Gentle Turtle just spent Essence from his Personal Essence pool

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Yeap! plenty of windows."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Alrighty, cool."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle should say it now that a big part of his fighting style is being too far away for the other guy to hit him. He's walking 7 yards a tick :P

 

(Judge) Gentle Turtle rolls Wits  + Awareness  + Essence: [ -1- -1- -1- 2 2 8 8 ]

         Resulting in 2 successes.

 

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle fails at JB.

 

Code> You have no dice to roll. Check your spelling?

 

(Judge) Cynis Yueru rolls 7: [ 2 2 4 6 6 8 <10> ]

         Resulting in 3 successes.

 

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru pat pats.

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity notes that she's just drinking tea and enjoying the fight, watching the pai sho game. :)

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle is immediately backing away from the other guy. He'll move to always stay just out of his attack range.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Turtle, gimme an exact number."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "You have no idea what his attack range is."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "I do, however, have a good idea of how long arms not made of rubber can go, which is what I'm basing this on. Turtle can strike from 50 yards away; he'll be circling around him in the widest radius that is physically possible. If the other guy has the range to hit Turtle, then the walking doesn't matter :D"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle has a DDV of 11 right now, for when you roll.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "one sec, need to look up something real quick"

 

The man in spectacles leaps onto an empty table quickly, kicking up a cup of unused chopsticks from the table. His hands fly out from the sleeves of his robes and snatches up several of the chopsticks in between his fingers. With a flick of his wrists, he launches the chopsticks towards the monk, and the chopstocks move through the air with the cutting force and accuracy of thrown knives or needles.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "this is really the wrong charm to use on you, since it only affects parry DV, not dodge... but oh well. I already planned on using it before knowing your DDV, so I shouldn't back out now. xD"

 

Code> You have no dice to roll. Check your spelling?

 

(Judge) Cynis Yueru rolls 16: [ -1- 2 2 2 3 4 6 6 6 6 7 8 8 9 <10> <10> ]

         Resulting in 8 successes.

 

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Exact average roll! It misses."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "tick 1, your move."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "And there is probably NOT more than 20 yards lengthise in the while place, I don't think..."

 

 

         Gentle Turtle's movements are graceful and fluid, moving with the light-footed speed of the wind itself. The chopsticks strike harmlessly into a table near him, sticking straight up, and the monk takes to the air. In his hand is a chakram of blue jade resembling a turtle's shell. A probing move, his arm twists and glowing copies of the chakram exit it, angled in such a way that their broad, flat tops and bottoms will strike instead of the lethal and sharpened edges. He doesn't want to kill the man, after all!

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru isn't good with imaginary architecture distances.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Okie dokie. I'll stick to just the DDV for now."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "If crazy things show up later I'll break out the mobility and go flying :P"

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Roll your attack. +1 stunt"

 

(Judge) Gentle Turtle rolls Dexterity  + Martial arts  + Martial arts/Chakrams  + Martial arts + 1: [ -1- -1- -1- -1- -1- 3 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 7 8 8 9 ]

         Resulting in 4 successes.

 

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "..."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle sighs.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "4 successes. /4/ successes!"

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru pats.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "That's a miss."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle is Speed 3, for the record.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru nods. "Okay."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Tick 4, simultanious action."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle gets a-posin. Hokie.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "turtle doesn't wear armor, right?"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "None whatsoever."

 

The white robed man dodges past Turtle's chakarms with as much grace as the monk demonstrated. His hands disapears beneath the sleeves of his white robes for a brief moment, and then reappear armed with weapons of all sorts, to the point that one can barely see the hand holding them. In both hand, he holds between his a chakarm, a shuriken, an axe, a knife, and a needle and other thrown weapons exotic and mundane. Totalling eight in all, he lobs them carefully towards the monk, one after another in a hail of sharp, pointy things.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle eeks.

 

Turtle and Serendipity also notice what appears to be rolling clouds of white and blue gathering around the man as he launches his assalt, suggesting both his aspect and the fact that this attack carries with it magical might.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "What Charm's he usin'?"

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Roll Int + Lore, and add half your MA as a bonus. :P"

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Ser can do it too"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle was asking OOCly, not ICly. Turtle will probably figure it out anyway.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Oh."

 

(Judge) Gentle Turtle rolls Intelligence  + Lore + 3: [ 2 3 4 4 7 7 8 <10> ]

         Resulting in 5 successes.

 

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Night Breeze Style's Sheperd the Leaf charm."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Curses. The wrong man!"

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "The wrong man? why?"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Well, he may know multiple ones."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "So he's flurrying 8 attacks?"

 

 

         The energy chakrams fading - what a horribly mistimed throw on his part! - without causing the teahouse any harm, Gentle Turtle continues to move as quick as he can, moving with superb agility and managing to not interfere with any of the drinking and game-playing going on. At least until an older gentleman turns and moves in front of him, probably by mistake - Turtle slides to one side, eyes trained on the white robed man, watching his defenses and waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Turtle's Aiming, btw."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "oh."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "will just roll then"

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "sec"

 

Code> You have no dice to roll. Check your spelling?

 

(Judge) Cynis Yueru rolls 8: [ -1- 2 5 5 5 7 9 <10> ]

         Resulting in 4 successes.

 

 

Code> You have no dice to roll. Check your spelling?

 

(Judge) Cynis Yueru rolls 7: [ -1- 2 3 3 4 5 6 ]

         Resulting in a Botch!

 

 

Code> You have no dice to roll. Check your spelling?

 

(Judge) Cynis Yueru rolls 6: [ 2 6 6 8 8 9 ]

         Resulting in 3 successes.

 

 

Code> You have no dice to roll. Check your spelling?

 

(Judge) Cynis Yueru rolls 5: [ 3 6 8 8 9 ]

         Resulting in 3 successes.

 

 

Code> You have no dice to roll. Check your spelling?

 

(Judge) Cynis Yueru rolls 4: [ 3 6 9 <10> ]

         Resulting in 3 successes.

 

 

Code> You have no dice to roll. Check your spelling?

 

(Judge) Cynis Yueru rolls 3: [ 6 8 8 ]

         Resulting in 2 successes.

 

 

Code> You have no dice to roll. Check your spelling?

 

(Judge) Cynis Yueru rolls 2: [ -1- 9 ]

         Resulting in 1 successes.

 

 

Code> You have no dice to roll. Check your spelling?

 

(Judge) Cynis Yueru rolls 1: [ 3 ]

         Resulting in a failure.

 

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Your DV penalties should be 0, -2, -6, -8, -10, -12, -14, -16..."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "if I'm reading the "double onslaught penalty" rule right."

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity says, "Onslaught penalties only occur when an attack -hits-."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "... No, onslaughts occur during flurries..."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru runs and fetchs book again.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "The book contradicts itself."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Initially it says 'per attack', in the chart it says 'per successful attack'."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Which one is correct? I have no idea."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "White Wolf writes bad rules."

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity had only read the chart.

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity says, "But, yeah. WW fails."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Well, how do you usually handle flurries?"

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "If you get attacked by someone who flurries three times, first attack is full dv, second is -1, and third is -2, right?"

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity usually handled it with the other rules. Again, contradictory.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Double the Onslaught penalty (-0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7), becoming -0, -2, -4, -6, 8, -10, -12, and -14."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "DDV of 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, 0, 0."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "You're right. My math fails."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "So three of those hit"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "The first 5 miss. The penultimate two hit, the last misses."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Against a DDV of 0, a failure still fails."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle BDDs it. Ping twice hurts more!

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "ahh. you're right. the 3 suxx doesn't break 3 dv."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "That's a pretty awesome charm, although blowing 24m is going to drain most DBs D:"

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Why do you THINK his anima is flaring now? xD"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "He likes the aesthetic."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "He could just have gone stealth and then hit you from behind, but that's not sporting."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Nor is it possible. Air Dragon's Sight from part 1!"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "I'll pose the result and my move."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Okay."

 

 

         Gentle Turtle is a dancer, carefully avoiding the first five of the hurled objects - only to see that the last three, some nasty-looking knives and a /throwing axe!/ are coming right for his face. There's a gentle blue pulse around his body, and the weapons after striking him fall harmlessly to the ground. Afterwards, eight shimmering chakrams fill the air.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "are you attacking back?"

 

Serendipity has reconnected.

 

Serendipity has partially disconnected.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "wb, ser"

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity says, "Internet failed on me."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Yes, after the aim action. I was waiting for a stunt die if any."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "+1!"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Okie dokie. +3 to the first one from the Aim action :D"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "And again, these are turned to do Bashing instead of Lethal, immediately stopping the attack if he falls."

 

(Judge) Gentle Turtle rolls Dexterity  + Martial arts  + Martial arts/Chakrams  + Martial arts + 3 + 1 - 4: [ -1- -1- 2 2 2 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 8 9 <10> ]

         Resulting in 5 successes.

 

 

(Judge) Gentle Turtle rolls Dexterity  + Martial arts  + Martial arts/Chakrams  + Martial arts + 1 - 5: [ -1- -1- -1- 2 2 2 3 3 6 7 9 <10> ]

         Resulting in 4 successes.

 

 

(Judge) Gentle Turtle rolls Dexterity  + Martial arts  + Martial arts/Chakrams  + Martial arts + 1 - 6: [ 2 2 3 4 4 5 5 6 8 8 9 ]

         Resulting in 3 successes.

 

 

(Judge) Gentle Turtle rolls Dexterity  + Martial arts  + Martial arts/Chakrams  + Martial arts + 1 - 7: [ -1- 3 3 5 5 8 9 9 <10> <10> ]

         Resulting in 7 successes.

 

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "The roller clearly hates me."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Hopefully on top of the -8 that guy's suffering to his DVs some of these hit anyway :p"

 

The white robed man's aspect anima flurries around him, knocking aside the incoming chakrams as the fly by. Those that get past the wall of wind, he dodges gracefully. It seems almost impossible that he still has all this fluidity, after exherting himself so greatly with his last attack, but Turtle spots the heartstone socketed in the bracers, peeking through just under his sleeves. A Windhands Gemstone!

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle boggles.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "I refuse to believe his DDV is 15+ normally."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle weeps.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "No no."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Windhands gemstone!"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "-8 from the flurry he did!"

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "3 dots. For range attacks only, ignore all dv penalties."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Page 382 of the core book."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "...that is such a broken hearthstone if I'm reading it right."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "It has a major flaw."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "He has no DV if you walk up and just PUNCH him."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Ser can knock him out!"

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru watches to see if Ser takes an oppertunistic attack.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Eh, I'll just kill him. When the NPCs are batshit like that, a Tsunami-Force Shout to the face is in order."

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity says, "Nah, it was a legit challenge."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Go ahead and roll/pose the attack. I'm not going have him do anything. He's pretty low on motes, so it'll just be normal attacks, and I doubt those'll hit you."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle has -4 to his DDV, mind.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Oh. Well, alright then."

 

 

         If Turtle were the sort to curse, he'd no doubt be going 'd-d-d-damn that her-her-hearthstone.' His chakrams are evaded effortlessly, it seems, a reaction that was not suspected in the slightest; still, there's naught to do but focus and wait for the next best opportunity.

 

The white robe man searches his sleeves for any weapons he still has left. He must've used most of them already though, it seems, as all he can produce is a single throwing knife. He lobs it carefully at the monk.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle can't believe he had to BDD against Night Breeze. All the other monks will mock him.

 

Code> You have no dice to roll. Check your spelling?

 

(Judge) Cynis Yueru rolls 14: [ -1- -1- -1- -1- 2 2 3 4 4 8 8 9 <10> <10> ]

         Resulting in 7 successes.

 

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "You roll the average amount a startling amount of times."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Why is that?"

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "And that's a miss."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "It's the average, but I'm used to people routinely going way below it or above it :P"

 

Serendipity has reconnected.

 

Serendipity has partially disconnected.

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru hugs Ser. "Welcome back."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Anyhow, roll and pose your big ole shout."

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity says, "Bitter failure. -.-"

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity says, "I hate th einternet. >.<"

 

 

         The knife narrowly misses Gentle Turtle, striking the ground near one of his jade-clad heels. The little monk is surprised by the adept martial artist; still, he did ask for whoever thought themselves the strongest, didn't he? Affixing his chakram back to his sash, the Turtle crouches down and moves with alarming haste, weaving through the crowds, beneath tables, behind passing servitors, all to get out of the white robed man's vision.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle isn't seriously going to TFS. That thing's an agg perfect! He'd take out half the teahouse.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle is moving to reestablish surprise.

 

(Judge) Gentle Turtle rolls Dexterity  + Stealth  + Essence: [ -1- -1- 2 3 4 4 4 5 6 7 7 ]

         Resulting in 2 successes.

 

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "..."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Why do I roll so poorly! You anger me, roller!"

 

Code> You have no dice to roll. Check your spelling?

 

(Judge) Cynis Yueru rolls 7: [ 2 2 7 8 8 9 9 ]

         Resulting in 5 successes.

 

 

The white robed man spots Turtle easily enough, making it past his poor attempt at stealth. However, as he is running out of weapons to through, this leaves the man with very little options. Grabbing a spoon from a nearby table, he hurles it at Gentle Turtle with might, although looking ridiculous as he does so.

 

Code> You have no dice to roll. Check your spelling?

 

(Judge) Cynis Yueru rolls 13: [ -1- 2 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 8 9 9 9 ]

         Resulting in 6 successes.

 

 

 

         Turtle wanted to do his best to not destroy the teahouse, but he needs to defeat this foe and keep going. Avoiding the spoon, Turtle ducks beneath a table - and then he explodes up, the shattered table hurtling through the air as a harmless distraction, the tablecloth soaring, as the monk once more attempts to work his way towards the robed man's flank.

 

(Judge) Gentle Turtle rolls Dexterity  + Stealth  + Essence: [ -1- 2 2 2 5 5 6 6 7 7 9 ]

         Resulting in 3 successes.

 

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "DAMN YOU"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle strangles the roller. At least roll the /average/ number of successes!

 

The white robed man picked up another spoon, and seems poised to throw it once more... and then sighs and drops it. "This is getting ridiculous. I'm not going to stand here throwing spoons at you. Let's call it a draw." He says simply before sitting back down at his table. "Told you /I/ should've fought him. You'd never see me run out of fists." comments his companion snarkily.

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "You know, just to test my theory that Fate only hates me when it needs to.."

 

(Judge) Gentle Turtle rolls 11: [ -1- -1- 2 2 3 6 6 7 8 8 9 ]

         Resulting in 4 successes.

 

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "..."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "Wtf are the odds?"

 

(Judge) Serendipity rolls 11: [ -1- -1- -1- 3 4 5 7 7 9 <10> <10> ]

         Resulting in 7 successes.

 

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity says, "^.^;"

 

(Judge) Gentle Turtle rolls 11: [ -1- 2 3 3 3 4 7 8 8 9 <10> ]

         Resulting in 6 successes.

 

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "..."

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "I just don't win."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Poor Turtle"

 

 

         Gentle Turtle could go invisible, but he doesn't want to spend too much essence in this fight; fighting in such close quarters sure is different from being outside. "A d-d-draw? But I n-n-need to ask you something!" Turtle isn't the sort to fight a man who doesn't want to, but he needs to ask. "I'm l-l-looking for a master of Fuh-Fuh-Fivefold Sh-Sh-Shadow Hands. Is there one h-h-here?" It's not subtle, but Turtle isn't subtle; he's honest to a fault.

 

The white robed man goes back to his plate of dumplings, studying Turtle's face closely as he chews his food, although he doesn't reply quite just yet. "Why didn't you just ask that in the first place, instead of going through all that trouble? Mind you, no one here shys away from a good fight. But you could've tried asking first."

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity grins wryly. "I think I'm going to bed. I'm sorry Ling, that I wasn't terribly interactive tonight; Ser's out of her league. If Turtle ascends another floor, she'll stay where she is, she earned it."

 

 

         "I d-d-didn't think someone with such an art would j-just be open about it," Gentle Turtle plainly responds, no traces of dishonesty in his voice. "I p-p-planned on fuh-fighting until I found someone who m-moved like I r-remember."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru hugs Ser. "Sorry!"

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity says, "It's okay. She'll drink tea with the dumpling guy."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "The other guy who wanted to fight was suppose to fight Ser, but she was only drinking tea, and not acting agressive."

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity says, "She'll spar him if he's in the mood. ;)"

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity says, "But seriously, bedtime for me."

 

-= OOC =- Cynis Yueru says, "Okay. g'night!"

 

-= OOC =- Gentle Turtle says, "G'night."

 

-= OOC =- Serendipity says, "So, goodnight! :)"

 

Serendipity heads out of character.

 

Serendipity has left.

 

"You're right. Most people who practice that style don't like to advertise it. But in that case though, would they have accepted your challenge, if they were intending to hide their abilities from you?" The white robed man replies with a hint of laughter. "I think your investigative skills might need some more work."

 

 

         What the man says is true - this was a bad idea from the start, most likely. Still, it seemed like a good idea to Turtle at the time, being as uncomfortable with people as he is; he's no silver-tongued detective. "That's t-t-true. Do you k-know one?"

 

There a general shaking of heads within the crowd on this floor. "Nope. Can't say that I do." The white robe man replies. "We don't really appreciate those kinds of sneaky bastards around here." Comments his friend at the table. "I mean, I suppose someone here could just be hiding the fact that they know it, but you won't find out short of fighting everybody one on one, and pushing them to the point where they're forced to use that skill and nothing else." There's a general murmur of agreement in the crowd. Some people seem to like this idea. "Or you could try upstairs." The white robed man says in the end. "They're less discriminationg the higher up you get. Power is power, doesn't matter if you use poison, cheat, borrow power from demons, or whatever."

 

 

         Gentle Turtle listens to the men talk, and bows his head politely once he's absorbed all the knowledge they have to give. "I s-see." He rises to his feet and bows deeply. "Th-Thank you very much." Afterwards, he moves to go to the next staircase and rise to level three - after all, if what these people say is true, he should have better luck simply asking at the higher levels. He won't need to provoke people, which makes him very uncomfortable.

 

"They're also less polite upstairs." Someone shouts out after Turtle is already on the stairs. "And generally, just stepping on the third floor is considered a challenge for anyone to test that you belong there. Well, that's sort of how it is on this floor too, but we tend to ask first. You might want to watch your back up there."

 

 

         Turtle nods, and moves to the next floor.