Adventures of Fu: Silver Cat Is Unhappy, But Justice And Loyalty Triumphed! Also, Fu Is Being Taught Successfully!

When he announced that to Silver Cat, she was understandably unhappy. I think I heard her muttering "if you only weren't so honourable", but Fu is sure he should have misheard!

Well, at least she had some small but precious items with her...that should make her feel better, right?

So Fu left, and went on to the Beggar's Guild! That was getting a lot harder than he expected! Now, if he was to become a "proper" (-ly groomed, maybe?!?) xia, he needed to become good. Real good.

He thought long and hard about his past fights...

The next day, he spoke with his teacher Hu, judging him the more open to new ideas one. That is, he had watched a prizefighter taking blows - something that Fu himself has learned to do. But the Beggars do it quite differently: they simply allow the strike to propel them elsewhere!

The prizefighter was taking them on without budging.

Fu didn't have time to watch back then, and the man's show had ended when he came back - but he has been asking himself whether learning both methods couldn't be combined! Thus, he was now looking for instruction...
 

"That can be arranged", Hu said. "But talk to your new friend first!"
 

"My new friend?"
 

"Black Fox, I mean".
 

"Master Hu, you know very well we can't be friends! Friends are of the same station, how can a beggar be the same station as the Emperor's uncle?!? That's preposterous to even think about, he's...well, when he's paying, he's being my master. When he ain't paying, it's more like a Bigger Brother-Younger Brother relationship. Although he himself sometimes behaves like the younger brother to the point I really start wanting to chastise him!"
 

"Still, go talk to him", Hu said, not bothering to explain to Fu that Jing family is so unorthodox, they don't even abide by people's station!
 

The GM keeps telling me this...OOC. IC, Fu can't even consider such an idea.
 

So, as a dutiful student, I did. I told Black Fox I'd need a mission or two - dangerous, with doubtful success, but prone to making one famous in case of success!
 

"So you're trying to get better in order to be famous?"
 

"Definitely. The girlfriend said I'd need to be a real famous xia for her dad to agree..."
 

"Which girlfriend?"
 

"You introduced us, how can you not remember? You even made it seem like a dragon was there!"
 

"Oh...that one? So you're getting serious?"
 

"Well", Fu kinda sulked. "I wasn't planning to, definitely. But she believed I'm the love of her life. And she said she's ready to wait for - well, as long as she can avoid another marriage. If she's serious, how can I refuse to be? What would it make me to actually be?"
 

"Glad you're thinking seriously about your life! That can be arranged", Black Fox said. "But come to a lunch first. I'm paying!"
 

"When has a poor beggar I refused such an offer from the illustrious Jing?"
 

As it turned out, the lunch had two Jings, not one: the elder, Wolf, was there as well!
 

They were also talking about Fu's abilities, discussing them in front of him.
 

Turned out, they want him to be ready to kill Black Fox if he ever "goes evil". So they wanted to ask Fu whether he'd agree to be ready to train much
 

"How is that possible? He's been keeping his soul for decades, I don't believe such a travesty to be possible. If I give you a promise that I don't believe for a moment to be possible, wouldn't I be cheating you?"
 

"Then it shouldn't be that hard, right?"
 

"I can't promise that, though. Not that I'm going to kill Black Fox without making sure to try and heal him. I've seen you people doing such marvelous stuff with people's heads, I'd knock him out, and bring him to you first! If you say he can't be helped, then I'm going to kill him. Is that enough?"
 

Neither of the Jings seemed persuaded. I think Wolf considered Fu unsuitable to the job, and the younger Jing considered him "too soft, but would be hardened in the process of training".
 

At the end, we decided that Black Fox would train Fu up, so he could do the job eventually.
 

After the xia asked for explanation, Wolf explained that there are important, powerful people in the world. If they're alright, the world is alright. If they go evil, someone needs to take them down!
 

Otherwise...well, as he puts it, "the age of the Min Sorcerers is what happens when such people are left unchecked". That's like, "the time when Sauron ruled".
 

Thus, each of them is going to find his own killers that are going to keep him in check.
 

"You have such a team, too?"
 

"Of course! Haven't you met Little Minnow and Scribe Yu?"
His sworn brothers have also sworn to kill Wolf if he goes evil! And one of them is #4 in the whole of Wulin!
 

Those people aren't joking. But from what I've seen, maybe they'd actually need to act together.

So the "doggie family", as Fu calls them, threw Fu a bone: Wolf himself taught him the technique to taking strikes that he was looking for!
 

Maybe he has heard of his son's lack of success with explanations, maybe it's just how he teaches (he's old-school in many ways), but the elder Jing did something Fu very much approves of: he showed him the moves to practice, and told him on what to focus. Took them about half an hour.
 

"Now practice it", he commanded. "In a few days, you should be able to take a lot more punishment!"
 

Although the technique isn't perfect, and strong strikes are still felt, Wolf assured him that even weak weapon attacks won't harm Fu. And it would only get better when he gets better at kung-fu in general!

When combining Iron Skin and Roll with Impact, Fu rolls 1d5+8 and reduced the damage by that number. But, once he raises his style to 5+ (he's currently at 4), he'd roll 1d10+10, and end up with 1d10+12 at level 6. The hard modifier is from Roll With Impact, the die is from Iron Skin!
It's also extremely funny that Wolf himself tutored him: Fu was planning to look for a teacher in the city, and considered offering about 30 silver for it - big sum for a beggar!
With the amount of money Jing routinely gives away, such an offer might have reasonably lead to Wolf's death...from laughter.
As he said, "this is an ordinary external style called Ascending Dragon Fist, but it's often useful and teaches well how to take heavy strikes - with good conditioning, even from knives and cudgels".

Thus, Fu returned to practice. Now he's focusing on that, and with diligent practice, he started to improve. Black Fox warned him they'd need to go to chase a chest, though.
 

As he put it, "you're still looking to get famous, right?"
 

"Of course, why else would I practice that?!?"
 

The next day, they were to leave for the capital, to look for a certain chest that was stolen from the nobles that Fu and his group rescued from foreign mercenaries.
 

Turned out, this task was originally Silver Cat's, but she seemed "unwilling to go with them", as Black Fox put it. Fu was kinda perplexed - if it was another girl, he could believe her being distraught, but the beautiful emperor's aunt being moved because of an ordinary xia, who'd believe that? If it is about having fun, she could just get any other youngster she wished, right?
 

Right?!?
 

So, you all can picture Fu as perplexed. I need to find a suitable picture.

Either way, they went the next day, and Black Fox practically (though not literally) dragged Silver Cat with them. She seemed kinda grumpy.
 

Fu decided to leave her some distance, maybe she had hungover? If she was like her elder brother, that wouldn't surprise us in the slightest!
 

"Hangover is the means that gods use to remind nobles and scholars that we're all subject to their whims", Master Hu had told him once.
"Are you drunk?", Master Wu had inquired.
"Exactly! I'm also going to suffer like everyone else - tomorrow", had been the answer.