Adventures of Fu: Black Fox Tutors The Righteous Kung-Fu Beggar In The Ways Of The World, Plagiarism Punished, Putting On A Trap For Vicious Killers

Last session (here's a link) ended with Fu leaving Black Fox and going on to train, with a "let me know if there's any news of the 4SW". 

Girls start being boring as a subject, especially when someone is talking nonsense! And he's only got something like 2 years, 11 months and 27 days now to get good enough to defeat Black Fox in a fight! So he had to train!

But for now, he's training mostly conditioning and the "Righteous Beggar Defeats Magorasts" technique. After all, Black Fox is a known sorcerer, too. If he decides to use magic in the fight, it can't be forbidden - thus Fu would need to defend this, somehow, too!

Well, that, and one of the 4SW is a known sorcerer, too. Fu is forbidden to fight those, unless Black Fox is leading the way! So it's possible he might face a sorcerer sooner than that. 

And finally, most of the issues seemed to stem from wizards doing their stuff. Makes one consider additional preparations!

Then Black Fox sent a message to Fu to come to the Golden Lotus. Turns out, he's decided to, ahem, introduce him to a the daughter of a magistrate tonight!

Why? Because her father wants to levy taxes on the whorehouses, including the Golden Lotus! "For infringing the morale", which makes Black Fox outraged.

Well, you know the guy...he sees that as "greed masquerading as righteousness", and that can't be allowed to stand!

So of course he is going to make a nightly visit to the female family members of the magistrate. Why? Because they've never been to the Golden Lotus! Thus, if they are proven to have such carnal desires without any such connections, in Black Fox's book, it would expose the duplicity of the magistrate! Obviously it's not the Golden Lotus that's infringing the morale, it's the people themselves!

So, basically, it's pick-up protest against unfair taxation. Only Black Fox can think of such a scheme...

The impressive part is, he performs it quite well. Send Fu to the bath, provide him with clean, black xia clothes. Put the guards to sleep (how much sleeping powder does this man waste?) and talk to the dogs until they leave.

Yes, he can speak to animals. Oh, anyone can do that in the setting, you only need, like, Scholar 5 (out of 6 possible), so...invest some measly 57 points (54 if Scholar is a starting skill) and you can buy it for another 2! (I had to check the language rules because of Wang learning Jin).

We're basically secure that Black Fox actually has Scholar 6, instead. And he's a half-fox-demon, and foxes are from the same branch as dogs. So this part doesn't surprise me.
 

Well, and there's just a bit of "setting tropes" here. Basically, it's a running joke that females in her settings conform to some tropes, including "big tits". Being shy about their desires counts as averting said tropes, and doesn't happen all that often.
 

Then he brought us to the daughter's room, and basically called her. Then a big dragon materialized and told her the Dragon has decided to get her to meet her One True Love. Fu was in turn lifted to seem like he's setting on top of the dragon, and flying!

Can Black Fox control two magic spells at once? Can a fish breath in water?!? I mean, did you spot the part where he and his sister survived a transcontinental trip in a boat without food or water, entirely on magic and guts? 

Besides, it's possible in the system and doesn't even take that much of an investment.

So I tried to roleplay my character fumbling around. But it's very, very hard to make Black Fox lose those opposed rolls, and Fu didn't want him to lose! And Black Fox was basically doing the rolls instead of Fu.

Basically, the girl pulled Fu in her room, and seemed more than willing. She actually pulled him on top of herself.
 

Fu's last blunder was trying to get up from her from her with a feeble "did I hurt you", but even this didn't work out, as she stopped him. I guess she didn't see much chance to have another hero sneak to her room carried by a dragon?

The GM pointed out that that's way more romantic than any marriage she might get arranged, alright! So I'm not blaming the GM. Though we stopped it here, it was clear what had transpired...

 
Black Fox returned on the morning to wake me up and help me sneak out! I only promised the girl that I'd come again after my fated battle with the Great Ogre - if I were to survive, that is!

Then Black Fox remained behind, in black fox form - his idea of subtlety is somewhat lacking - to "buy me time".

Turns out, he'd made separate visits to the magistrate's wife and his two concubines. I'm mildly wondering whether they'd also encountered their true loves, or he varies his lines according to the target?

Whatever the case might be, Fu later learned that there has been a great fox hunt. Alas, the hunters were chasing a single black fox half the day, then when they tired out, the black fox returned, this time in giant form, and hunted them - back to the city!

Black Fox, our master of subtlety...

Meanwhile, Fu had been doing his conditioning and seriously questioning his life choices. For now, he had switched to his old clothes - but he also kept the new, clean ones.

He also started thinking of meeting the girl again. Though he realizes it won't be easy without the help of a "dragon", i.e. one of the best sorcerers in the realm.

Whatever the case, he pointed out to Black Fox that yes, he managed to do it...but he also pointed out that the help of one like him is akin to a magic item. A beggar finding an enchanted item? There are such tales. At the end, the beggar isn't a beggar any more!

"Well, you don't need to be a beggar, either! You're a xia, whatever the case might be. Why would you beg? Be a xia, if you want to, you can keep protecting beggars", Black Fox shrugged in the evening, while listening to the tales of the fox hunt that the magistrate had suddenly declared.

Fu also shrugged. The girl had been nice, but he also remembered another girl. This one had been dismembered, and they'd found parts of her in the house that 4SW had inhabited briefly! (See: Still Chasing Demons).

Besides, hadn't he promised to the magistrate daughter to get to her if he survives the fated clash? He really needed to do some heroic stuff if he was to be a xia.

So he also inquired what had happened with the dirty song. And, surprise, that one was getting popular!

However, some musician had been killed after claiming it was written by him! An octopus was drawn - with a knife - on his chest, too!

"Moron!", Fu and Black Fox exclaimed in one voice... "Moron and plagiarist!", Fu added.

"I didn't want the credit, just to get them to come out...", Black Fox complained.

"OK, that's where Fu the Falcate Spear appears!", Fu grinned. "What do you say, I put a scroll on the center of the city, claiming the musician was slandering my name, for I am the author of that famous song? And that anyone who has a problem with that, can visit me - at 3 a.m. the next day?" (That ws, in about 29 hours, we were talking in the early evening).

"Weren't you forbidden to hunt for 4SW?"

"I was also allowed to, by Master Hu, if you're leading the way", Fu reminded. "You actually wrote the song, you're going to be there with me, how is that NOT 'leading the way'? I'm sure nobody could object!"

"I'm so going to get scolded for using your help, though...but wait, does anyone know about your moniker? Fu the Falcate Spear?"

"How would anyone know about it? We devised it with you last night! I've only told it to the girl, because you introduced me as a xia, and I needed a moniker! What xia doesn't have a moniker?!?"

"That's fine! So maybe your blind teacher won't scold me as much!"

So that's what he was worried about!

With that, we planted a table - Fu wrote it himself, because he argued someone might recognize Black Fox's calligraphy. He admitted that was possible.

And on the next morning, we went to prepare the place. He actually called one of his sisters, who had a great knowledge of mechanisms, and created traps out of the most innocuous stuff, hiding them expertly.

She was going to leave, but Fu persuaded her that her other tasks - finding missing documents, I think - was going to be best accomplished by getting to interrogate one of the 4SW.

And with that, we went into meditation, and waited for the 4SW to show up...

During the meditation, Fu actually reached an enlightenment. 

I don't know whether his eyes had glowed with purple light (it happens to diviners when spirits are sending a message through them), I should ask the GM.

Mechanically, I had just received enough Cultivation Points to purchase Qi Resistance. I spent them immediately, and the GM decided that getting the technique in a meditation before the battle fits perfectly!