Part 03 - Shaolin SurpriseIn this episode, we introduce:
Miss Piiza:
| Hello! I'm the private secretary and herald of the infamous martial artist Mr. Satan! Yes, that's a theatrical stage name, in case you were wondering. Nobody's first name is "Mr." |
Krillan | ...umm, hi. |
10 ObsidianAfter my stop in Aru Village, I returned to the World Tournament complex and followed the road north. Within a short time the clouds cleared and I was able to sethe mountains clearly in the distance. Scarcely a few miles down the road, however, I came upon an impressive, though somewhat gaudy-looking mansion. A number of people in strange white unforms were milling about outside, occassionally shouting at one another unintelligibly. Curious, I approached to investigate.
As I stared puzzled at the sign, one of the miscreants in white bowed at me, then let out a horrifying screech and tried to punch me in the face. I jumped back, just in time to avoid a bow and a kick from another. The crowd degenerated into a general brawl, with everyone punching and kicking and bowing at each other. As I tried to escape, one of the fellows with an orange belt knocked me off my feet with a kick to the chest. I scrambled to my feet and pulled out my knife, cautioning him away to no avail. After a few more swings at me I screamed and with all my might stuck him with my knife.
I think I even scratched him a little.
I'd never been much of a fighter. I'm an engineer. If we do our job, orcs never get inside the fortress, so we never have a chance to learn to fight. It's an ancient system and it works very well. But it wasn't going to help me here, and this knife wasn't helping much either. I needed a strategy. And thank Armok, after a few more failed attempts to stab him, a strategy presented itself. This poor fool was prancing about in some sort of crazy fighting stance with his knees horribly bent and his butt about 12 inches off the ground. It made him
slow to move. I found that I could simply let him come at me, stab at him, step back and repeat. It took some time with my weak arm and lousy aim, but eventually I put him out of my misery.
Within several more minutes I had dispatched 10 of the fools. And I felt...stronger somehow. I had never killed before. And yet here were the corpses of ten humans at my feet as if I'd been training since 2d.
And yet through it all I was left wondering...
why are they attacking me?
Inside, I found a red-headed woman speaking to a crowd of people in what appeared to be a trophy room.
Miss Piiza:
| Thank you, and welcome to Mr. Satan's training dojo! As you can see from this impressive collection of trophies, including all three from the previous three World Tournaments, Mr. Satan has proven himself many times over to be the strongest fighter in the world! |
So the human who owns this place is a fighter, huh? Must pay better in the human world. Most fighters I knew lived in the barracks. I was understandably skeptical of this "strongest fighter in the world" claim, but presumably the woman merely meant strongest
human in the world. So that would make him about as strong as the average glass cutter. Still, for all their buffonery, skill was skill, and this "Mr Satan" fellow was clearly a Legendary human. No way anybody could afford a place this size if they weren't Legendary. Maybe I could learn a thing or two from him. But first I had some questions.
Urist Ironbeard | So what's with all the crazy guys in white standing outside attacking people? |
Miss Piiza:
| Oh, well...Mr. Satan is such a strong and famous fighter that he attracts a lot of fans. He only takes the strongest fighters so prospective students try to prove themselves worthy by defeating each other. |
That explained a lot. Well, I didn't have time to bash human heads now. Certainly not to "prove myself" to some silly human, even if he could teach me a useful trick or two. Right now I have an outpost to find.
Orinji TempleIt took me some time to find the temple. Silly fools built the thing at the end of some silly road
on top of the mountain instead of down inside it where it belonged. The place obviously wasn't built by dorfs but I thought maybe they embarked on a human city and tunneled down underneath it. Plus it was the only lead I had, so I went inside.
Except for a couple candles, it was both dark and quiet inside.
Urist Ironbeard | Hellloooo?!?!?!? Anyone here? |
Silence.
Urist Ironbeard | ...ANYONE?!?!?! |
Krillan | ...umm, I'm here. I'm Krillan. Are you here to save us? |
So this was Krillan. Sickly looking fellow had his beard shaved off. Whatever happened here, it wasn't pretty.
Urist Ironbeard | Yes, I was sent by the mountainhome to take charge until the end of the season. What happened here? |
Krillan | Oh, thank you! It was AWFUL! A pack of rival Taoist extremists came in and attacked the temple! Tha Abbot went into meditation, and I took them to my porn collection to distract- |
Urist Ironbeard | Wait...slow down. What's a Taoist? |
Krillan | Oh, right. Sorry. Taoists are peaceful philosophers who believe in inaction as a means of attaining harmony with the universe. |
Urist Ironbeard | And they attacked your temple? |
Krillan | ...well, they looked like Taoists. So the Abbot and most of the monks went into meditation and left me here to deal with them so I offered to show them my porn collection to distract them, but they admonished me, saying it was improper for a monk to have porn, so they went down into the catacombs to go find it and I locked them in! I have the key, but the Abbot and most of the monks are down there with them! |
Urist Ironbeard | Temple. Monks. No beard. You're not a dorf, are you? |
Krillan | HEY! Just becaues I'm SHORT doesn't mean you need to be RUDE! |
Urist Ironbeard | Answer the question. Are you a dorf? |
Krillan | NO! I'm just...small boned. Yeah. Small boned. |
Urist Ironbeard | You're a short human? |
Krillan | Yeah. Rub it in why don't you? You said you're here to help. So are you going to help or not? |
Urist Ironbeard | What exactly do you want me to do? You've got the key. Go let them out. |
Krillan | But...there are probably a hundred of them down there! All with weapons and years of fighting experience! If I let them out they'll overrun the temple! |
Urist Ironbeard | What? Fighters? I thought you said they were "peaceful" Taoists and that you're a bunch of monks? |
Krillan | Oh, well...yeah, but we're Shaolin monks and they're, well...I guess they're warrior Taoists. We all train our entire lives in the martial arts. |
Urist Ironbeard | Well, then I certainly can't help you. I'm not a fighter. I'm an engineer. Maybe I could redesign the temple to collapse on them and flood the world with magma, but a hundred armed and skilled fighters? No way. Nothing I can do.
...unless... |